MONACO (AFP) – Prince Albert II of Monaco and South African beauty Princess Charlene married Saturday in front of 800 royal and celebrity guests, the tense bride finally shedding a few tears as the day came to an end.
Arrayed in a stunning Armani gown cut from 130 metres of silk and studded with 40,000 crystals, the world's newest royal briefly showed the emotion of a week of ugly rumours and a tightly stage-managed wedding spectacular.
Earlier in the week the world's press reported rumours that the 33-year-old swimming champion had been intercepted trying to flee home to South Africa.
Once the festivities had begun, palace officials finally admitted that there had been a "hiccup" in preparations when Charlene learned that Albert may face demands for a paternity test after a claim by a former lover.
On Saturday there was no sign of stress until Charlene's emotional tears, which welled up in a small local shrine to Monaco's patron saint when a mother and her 11-year-old daughter sang a simple hymn to the Virgin Mary.
She dried her eyes, gave her husband a brief kiss, and then returned to the open-topped Lexus that was to take her to host a wedding banquet at Monaco's opera house, opposite the city-state's famed casino.
Earlier, thousands of wellwishers had watched the religious wedding service on big screens outside the royal palace and around the principality.
Archbishop Bernard Barsi of Monaco asked each whether they accepted each other "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part." Both replied with a firm: "Yes."
Then the couple -- Charlene, noticeably less tense than she had been at the first ceremony, and occasionally smiling -- exchanged rings in 18-carat white gold and platinum by the House of Cartier.
South African singer Pumela Matshikiza celebrated with a popular, upbeat wedding song from Charlene's homeland: "Diviner of the roadways, the knock knock beetle / It just passed by here, the knock knock beetle."
As couple left the palace, arm in arm, he in his cream uniform and officer's uniform, the bells of the principalities many churches rang and guests showered them with rose petals.
Some 800 guests attended the service in the palace, and another 3,800 were outside watching on a large screen, cheering as popular guests like James Bond actor Roger Moore and former French first lady Bernadette Chirac arrived.
Aside from France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and the kings and queens of Sweden and Belgium, the crowd included fashion designers, models, sportsmen, more minor royals and senior officials from the tiny principality.
Albert, at 53, is two decades older than his blonde bride and has two children from previous relationships.
But even if a third or a fourth is confirmed he will still not have an official heir until his lawful wife bears him one.
"We can't remake the prince. It's a modern marriage. Charlene has known him for a long time and accepts it," shrugged a 30-something wellwisher, insisting on remaining anonymous like many of Monaco's 7,810-strong native population.
"We just want the Grimaldi dynasty to continue," said a 72-year-old Monegasque, a direct descendant of a group of Genoan migrants who settled the rocky Riviera outcrop and future tax haven in 1775.
Guests arrived in a cavalcade of 200 BMW 7 Series limousines and striding across the red carpet towards the palace, with early arrivals including Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova and retired tennis ace Henri Leconte.
Pop star Jean-Michel Jarre received warm applause from locals still grateful for the previous night's spectacular concert. Heels were high, hats were broad and many guests seemed to have ignored a request for covered shoulders.
The bride and her beau set off across the city state in an open-topped Lexus hybrid, number plate 001M, a gesture to the prince's green credentials amid otherwise extravagant scenes of champagne quaffing and fireworks.
