Monaco＇s royal wedding festivities roll into second day
(CNN) -- The tiny nation of Monaco gets another reason to celebrate Saturday, as the wedding festivities for its ruler and his South African bride extend into a second day.
One day after a civil ceremony was held at the palace, a religious ceremony is set to take place at 5 p.m. Saturday, in front of about 3,500 people in the palace＇s courtyard, according to Prince Albert＇s official website. Footage will also be broadcast on giant screens for onlookers gathered in the Palace Square.
Afterward, the new princess, Charlene Wittstock, will leave her bouquet at the Sainte Devote church and then join her new husband for a public procession through the city streets.
This will be followed by an official dinner and fireworks outside the Opera de Monte Carlo, capping the two-day holiday that＇s been declared in the small seaside nation of 33,000 to mark the union of Wittstock, a former Olympic swimmer, and Prince Albert.
The event has galvanized the attention of thousands around the world, whose fascination with Monaco＇s royalty blossomed with the April 1956 wedding of Prince Ranier III and Hollywood movie star Grace Kelly.
Albert, 53, is that couple＇s only son, and they also had two daughters in Princesses Caroline and Stephanie. Prince Albert formally became Monaco＇s head of state following his father＇s death in 2005.
While he has publicly acknowledged he has fathered two children, this is his first marriage.
Also an Olympian, having competed in bobsled competitions in five Olympic Winter Games -- from Calgary in 1988 to Salt Lake City in 2002 -- the prince met Wittstock at a swimming event in Monaco in 2000. That summer, the 33-year-old woman swam for South Africa in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The couple announced their engagement last summer.
Their wedding festivities began Friday with a civil ceremony at the palace in Monaco, a principality that measures just under two square miles and is surrounded on three sides by France and on the other by the Mediterranean Sea. Afterwards, the couple and their guests feasted at a picnic and took in musical concert featuring Jean Michel Jarre.
The guest list includes heads of state and the members of the rich and famous, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British model Naomi Campbell, fashion designer Giorgio Armani and British business mogul Richard Branson.
However, the United Kingdom＇s royal newlyweds -- Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge -- missed the wedding as they are on an official tour of Canada. |
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