Prince Charles' Former Uncle Fears He'll Be Dead When He Celebrates His Investiture As Prince Of Wales

Britain's Prince Charles' former uncle fears he'll be dead by the time the royal celebrates his investiture as the Prince of Wales. Lord Snowdon - who was married Charles' aunt Princess Margaret - helped organize the 1969 investiture ceremony and is devastated the prince wants to wait until the 50th anniversary to celebrate it.

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The 79-year-old photographer said: "He must come down again soon. I wanted him to come down this year but I think he said there won't be a celebration for 40 years, we'll leave it till 50. I'll be dead by then."

Snowdon is still proud of the pageant he arranged at Caernarfon Castle in Wales, with a modest budget of just Ł50,000.

He recalls: "Everything was from Wales. I got everything very cheap, I did a lot of bargaining, I'm not Welsh for nothing. It all went swimmingly. I look back on it with a lot of pride, pride for Wales and I'm very proud that I was involved in it".

At the time, the people were worried the event would be targeted by the terrorists who bombed government buildings in nearby Abergele two days before, but Snowdon said they needn't have fretted.

He explained: "People got worried about security and bombs and things like that there was no need. If there had been any terrorists they could have practiced on me. I went around in an open Aston Martin or on my motorbike but nobody did actually have a shot."

"I think there were only two or three extremists. It didn't matter whether you were Welsh or not, this was bloody good for Wales and that was all there was to it."

Charles recently refused to appear in a BBC documentary to mark the 40th anniversary of his investiture.

Snowdon agreed to be interviewed in the film and admitted he was surprised Charles wouldn't take part.

He said: "I went back there to help make this TV program for BBC Wales. I was delighted to do so. I thought Prince Charles was taking part as well."

The documentary - which will be presented by Huw Edwards - will cover the 48 hours leading up to the investiture and the event itself and will feature interviews with several key figures from the time.