The Catholic Church in Britain and Ireland is to be represented by several senior figures at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Archbishop of Westminster and leader of Catholics in England and Wales, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, retired Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and the leader of Scottish Catholics, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, will attend the ceremony on April 29 in Westminster Abbey, it has been confirmed.

The Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, the Vatican’s ambassador to the UK, will also attend as will the Primate of all Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales issued a prayer earlier this month asking for God’s blessing on Prince William and Kate Middleton as they prepare for their wedding.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor made history in 2002 after he became the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales to visit the royal estate of Sandringham as a guest of the Queen.

Cardinal O’Brien’s presence at the wedding comes in spite of his calls for abolition of the 1701 Act of Settlement, to end “state-sponsored sectarian discrimination”. Under the Act, no Roman Catholic or anyone married to a Roman Catholic can hold the English crown. It was revealed in 2008 that Autumn Kelly had given up her Catholic faith before marrying the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips to apparently allow her future husband to retain his right to the throne.

The Most Rev. Nichols has said reform of the act is a matter for the government and does not “weigh heavily on the shoulders” of Catholics.