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Danes cheer as prince weds Aussie

Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik has married 32-year-old Australian businesswoman Mary Donaldson in a ceremony attended by hundreds of the world's royals.

The couple exchanged vows at the city's Lutheran Cathedral in front of 800 people including film star Sir Roger Moore and the crown princes and princesses of Spain, Norway and Sweden.

Amid unprecedented security in the Danish capital, the guests filed into the 175-year-old church on Friday, stopping to wave to onlookers and TV cameras.

The couple affirmed their wedding vows twice, a Danish Lutheran wedding tradition.

"Since you have promised one another that you will live together in marriage and have now confirmed before God, and before us who are present, I declare you to be man and wife before God and all of mankind," Lutheran Bishop Erik Norman Svendsen said.

Then Frederik kissed his bride, the first time they have done so in public.

The royal wedding marks the conclusion of something of a modern fairy tale after almost four years of courtship since the couple first met at a bar during the Sydney Olympics.

Donaldson is the first Australian to join a European royal family and when Frederik's 64-year old mother, Queen Margrethe, dies she will become Queen Mary and her husband Frederik X, King of Denmark.

Donaldson loses her Australian citizenship and becomes a Dane by marrying Frederik -- who was once considered Europe's most eligible bachelor.

From Copenhagen to Sydney, the wedding was broadcast live around the world and police in the Danish capital said 250,000 people lined the route of the royal motorcade to catch their glimpse of the newly-weds' horse-drawn carriage.

A massive security operation -- the biggest in Denmark's modern history -- was in place for the wedding with a third of the nation's 10,000-strong police force on duty and the guest list kept secret until the last minute.

Royal wedding fever had gripped the country with celebrations beginning over a week ago and including military parades, receptions and banquets, rock concerts and other parties.

But celebrations were not confined to Denmark, with Australians apparently delighted one of their own is marrying into Europe's oldest royal family.

Danish media report that sales of flat-screen televisions soared in the run-up to the wedding, while there has been an increased demand for Australian products including wine, cheese, Tim Tam biscuits and Vegemite.

The nation has been obsessed with the couple since rumors of their relationship begun despite the couple doing their best to keep it secret.

For 12 months the relationship was kept out of the spotlight, with Frederick taking secret visits to Australia. Towards the end of 2001, the couple agreed that Donaldson should move to Paris. She then moved to Copenhagen in early 2003.

Then, after months of speculation, the royal palace confirmed the romance and the couple announced their engagement in October.

Posted by thinkum at May 15, 2004 11:07 AM