(AP Photo/Royal Mail)

LONDON - Prince Charles led ceremonies Tuesday to mark the 200th birthday of novelist Charles Dickens - a writer as popular today as he was during his lifetime.

The heir to the British throne laid a wreath on the writer's grave in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner, in front of an audience containing dozens of Dickens' descendants.

Actor Ralph Fiennes read from "Bleak House," and there were prayers for the poor and marginalized, for writers and for journalists.

More events are being held in Portsmouth, southern England, where Dickens was born the son of a navy pay clerk on Feb. 7, 1812.

When he died in 1870, at 58, he was one of the most famous writers in the world.

His novels, including "Oliver Twist" and "Great Expectations," are still read by millions and have spawned innumerable film and TV adaptations.

Dickens also was one of the first modern celebrity authors, and campaigned for social reform in Victorian England.

His biographer, Claire Tomalin, said today's headlines prove Dickens is still immensely relevant.

"The great gulf between the rich and poor, corrupt financiers, corrupt Members of Parliament. ... You name it, he said it," she said.