THE row over replacement of the church organ at Crathie Kirk, where the royal family worships when at Balmoral, was moved on yesterday, with the Kirk Session approving the purchase of a digital computer instrument.

The problems began earlier this year, when organist Charles Taylor was sacked after 15 years service for protesting the session's refusal to repair and restore the traditional wind organ.

Prince Charles twice failed to attend Sunday morning service last month, prompting rumours of a royal boycott over the issue.

However, a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said yesterday the Queen had not been involved in the dispute, nor had she made any offer to replace the old instrument.

''She has not taken any decision either way. That is very much for the Kirk, the elders, and the congregation to decide. Obviously, when any appeal for fund raising is decided, the question will be considered,'' she added.

A spokeswoman for the Prince of Wales denied his absence from church was a boycott and said he shared the Queen's opinion.

Estimates for rebuilding and maintaining the organ have risen from #150,000 to #200,000, compared to less than #15,000 for a digital instrument.

The session's recommendation to buy the latter will go before a meeting of the whole congregation on Tuesday week, with a call for a business plan to meet the Kirk's financial needs. It states that a new organ would also require little maintenance and could be used to pre-record music for use when the church is open to visitors, and at funerals and weddings.

The minister, the Reverend Robert Sloan, said, visually, the church would not be altered in any way, adding that searches of the kirk's records and the royal archives at Windsor had not shown any evidence that the organ, installed in 1896, had been gifted by Queen Victoria, as had been supposed.