Newlyweds Sandra and Rohit Nathaniel were disappointed when an eminent bishop could not bless their wedding because of the war in Iraq.

The Right Reverend Riah Abu El-Assal, Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, was due to fly to England from Israel to perform the blessing at their wedding in Copthorne, near Crawley, last week.

However, just two days before the ceremony, he had to call off the rare visit because British Airways flights from Israel had been cancelled and he felt the political problems in the Middle East were too uncertain.

He normally only comes to the UK to meet senior Anglican clerics or the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and was last here for the ordination of the Right Reverend Rowan William, the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

However, he decided to make this trip and special blessing because he is a close family friend of the Nathaniels.

The bishop has known Rohit's father Ivan for more than 40 years after they met studying theology at the Bishop's College in Calcutta, India, in the early Sixties.

They became great friends and have kept in touch ever since over thousands of miles.

Ivan said: "We were all disappointed but it was still a wonderful day.

"I had been to Riah's daughter's wedding in Nazareth in Israel a few years ago so he was very keen to come to my son's."

Sandra, 33, and Rohit, 34, both from Crawley, were childhood sweethearts and are now on honeymoon in St Lucia, following their wedding at St John the Evangelist Church, Copthorne.