Monaco’s Prince Albert II married South African beauty Charlene Wittstock and made her his princess on Friday, throwing open the gates of his palace to celebrate with the entire Mediterranean nation.
All 7,810 adult Monegasque subjects were invited to a buffet reception at the Grimaldis’ medieval palace, overlooking the tiny tax haven’s main marina, and the crowd cheered when the nervous-looking couple made their vows. The throne room ceremony, conducted by the head of the country’s state council, was transmitted to the crowds on giant screens. The couple sat in high-backed bright pink chairs and Charlene wore a power blue gown. “I declare you united by the bonds of marriage,” Philippe Narmino said. Wellwishers waved flags in the red and white of the Monaco royal house and the rainbow banner of South Africa and cheered the couple, in what some saw as a national sigh of relief after many years of waiting. The 53-year-old playboy’s lengthy bachelorhood had begun to try the patience of his subjects, who live crammed in a tight hillside warren of concrete tower blocks alongside tens of thousands more foreign tax exiles.
On Friday he presented them with a princess that looks the part — a statuesque blonde, timid but poised in a power blue gown — and locals hope the couple will now ensure an orderly succession by producing a legitimate heir. Monaco’s privileged status as an independent principality that sets its own low tax rates and regulates its own financial services depends on it having a prince.