Official: bride Sophie to promise 'I will obey'

SOPHIE RHYS-JONES will promise to "love, honour and obey" Prince Edward at their wedding next week, it was officially confirmed today by the bishop who will conduct the ceremony.

The traditional commitment was revealed by the Right Rev Peter Nott, Bishop of Norwich, who will officiate at St George's Chapel, Windsor, before he retires on 26 June. The promise to obey was a commitment that Diana declined to make at her wedding to Prince Charles at St Paul's Cathedral.

Bishop Nott said: "It's no big deal. It is a mistaken assumption that when a bride says she will obey it means she is going to be subservient. "My wife said obey and she is far from subservient. It is to do with trust and with listening. The partnership is equal and leadership in a good marriage always shifts. I think obey means 'I trust you to make decisions that are for the good of the family.'" Bishop Nott, in a pre-wedding interview, said of the royal couple: "I always think of them as a couple. I find it very difficult to think of them individually. In fact they share a lot of characteristics and are alike in many respects. "They are lovely people with a great sense of warmth, kindness, humanity how the two of them have been so very committed to this big step. They have given masses of time to it, which for me is a joy." Asked about recent publicity, he said: "They are both sensitive people and all sensitive people get hurt. But they are also professional PR people. They know about the media and understand precisely what is going on and what people are after." On the question of best man, he said: "you won't be surprised at all."

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