Spanish Princess Weds Banker First Royal Wedding In 89 Years ‘Better Than The Pope’s Visit’
Princess Elena said “I do” inside a cathedral packed with royalty, and a roaring cry of “Long live the bride and groom!” rose from the ordinary thousands waiting outside as Spain celebrated its first royal wedding in 89 years Saturday.
“This is much better than the pope’s visit,” said one well-wisher, 43-year-old homemaker Maria Dolores Espinosa, referring to John Paul II’s 1993 stop in Seville in Spain’s southern Andalusia region.
“It’s much more joyful. We Sevillanos have gone all out for our princess, the prettiest in Spain.”
The 31-year-old daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia exchanged vows with Jaime de Marichalar y Saenz de Tejada, a banker eight months her junior. The 90-minute Roman Catholic ceremony was orchestrated to show off the proud position the restored Bourbon monarchy has carved out for itself in modern Spain.
Television cameras perched high above the altar of the Cathedral of Seville, Europe’s third-largest cathedral, in to close-ups of Elena as she knelt next to her groom, wearing an ivory silk organza dress with a heavily embroidered bodice.
The princess, the second of three children, exchanged glances and comments with her mother, who wore a sky blue silk chiffon dress, a single strand of pearls and a traditional Spanish black mantilla with tortoise-shell comb.
Sofia and Juan Carlos, who wore an army dress uniform, sat a few yards from the couple to the left of the high altar in red plush and gilt chairs.
Elena, her light brown hair braided under a chiffon veil, held back tears as her groom accompanied her out of the cathedral 90 minutes later to climb into an 18th-century horse-drawn carriage.
The couple waved to cheering crowds as the carriage drove them across town to the Church of El Salvador, where the couple prayed to the accompaniment of traditional Andalusian music. Elena left her wedding bouquet at the tomb of her great-grandparents, Prince Carlos of Bourbon and Princess Luisa Francisca of Orleans.
Next stop was a wedding luncheon for 1,300 guests, including government officials, trade union leaders and members of nearly all of Europe’s royal families. Guests included Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Paola of Belgium and Prince Rainier of Monaco. Britain’s Prince Charles attended the wedding, but was to return home afterward.