A DUNBAR-BORN and bred minister could be set for the biggest occasion of his professional life � by marrying the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips and fiance Mike Tindall in Edinburgh this summer.

It is believed that Miss Phillips and England rugby star Mr Tindall are keen to marry in Scotland � with the Capital's Canongate Kirk, on the Royal Mile, the favoured location.

The minister there is the Rev. Neil Gardner, who was born in Dunbar in 1965 and lived there until moving to university in 1983.

And if reports are to be believed, the Rev Gardner has already asked another couple due to be married at the church � which is the kirk of Holyroodhouse and Edinburgh Castle � to move their July 30 wedding to accommodate the 29-year-old daughter of Princess Anne.

Miss Phillips and Mr Tindall were rumoured to have been spotted at Canongate Kirk last Thursday with the Rev Gardner. However, he refused to comment on the speculation when contacted by the Courier.

The former Dunbar school pupil has been minister there since June 2006, and previously worked at Alyth in Perth and Kinross, and as an Army chaplain with the Black Watch Regiment.

The Rev Laurence Twaddle, a friend of the Rev Gardner and minister at Dunbar's Belhaven Parish Church, said it would be "quite exciting" were the event to go ahead at Canongate.