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Watch: Jordan Crown Prince, Rajwa Al Saif seal vows in star-studded fairytale wedding
The bride, wearing an elegant white dress, arrived at Zahran Palace in a 1968 Rolls-Royce Phantom V custom-made for the Crown Prince’s late great grandmother
Screengrab
Jordan's crown prince married the scion of a prominent Saudi family on Thursday in a palace ceremony attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world, as massive crowds gathered across the kingdom to celebrate the region's newest power couple.
The marriage of Crown Prince Hussein, 28, and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, 29, drew a star-studded guest list including Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate, as well as US First Lady Jill Biden.
The celebrations hold deep significance for the region, emphasising continuity in an Arab state prized for its long-standing stability. It even could help resource-poor Jordan forge a strategic bond with its oil-rich neighbour, Saudi Arabia.
The bride, wearing an elegant white dress, arrived at Zahran Palace in a 1968 Rolls-Royce Phantom V custom-made for the crown prince’s late great grandmother.
Reuters
Reuters
The crown prince arrived earlier in full ceremonial military uniform with a gold-hilted saber.
Reuters
The families and their guests gathered in an open-air gazebo decked with flowers and surrounded by landscaped gardens for a traditional Muslim wedding ceremony known as “katb al-ketab". The crowd erupted in applause after the signing of the marriage contract.
Several miles away, a jolt went through a packed ancient Roman amphitheater as viewers watched the couple seal their vows and exchange rings on a wide screen.
Here's a clip:
After several minutes of stillness, the crowd of some 18,000 people were on their feet, waving flags and shrieking with excitement at one of several viewing parties held across the nation.
Here are more snaps:
Royal Hashemite Court (RHC)/Handout via Reuters
Reuters
'Our future king'
Samara Aqrabawi, a 55-year-old mother watching the livestream with her young daughter, said the ceremony was more impressive than she imagined.
“I wish for all mothers and fathers in Jordan and in the world to feel like they’re surely feeling,” she said of the king and queen.
“This is an important day because he is our future king,” said Ahmad Al Masri, an 18-year-old attending with his family. “All of Jordan is watching.”
On Thursday morning, Saudi wedding guests and tourists — the men wearing white dishdasha robes and the women in brightly coloured abayas — filtered through the sleek marbled lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman.
Noura Al Sudairi, an aunt of the bride, was wearing sweatpants and sneakers on her way to breakfast.
“We are all so excited, so happy about this union,” she said. “Of course it’s a beautiful thing for our families, and for the relationship between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.”
Excitement over the nuptials — Jordan’s biggest royal event in decades — has been building in the capital of Amman, where congratulatory banners of Hussein and his beaming bride adorn buses and hang over winding hillside streets. Shops had competing displays of royal regalia.
“She looks like such a princess that I think she deserves him,” Suhair Afaneh, a 37-year-old businesswoman, said of the bride, lingering in front of a portrait of Hussein in a dark suit. “But so what, I’ll still be in love with him.”
She contemplated buying Hussein’s portrait to hang in her bedroom but her nieces persuaded her that her husband might not approve.
Jordan’s 11 million residents have watched the young crown prince rise in prominence in recent years, as he increasingly joined his father, Abdullah, in public appearances. Hussein has graduated from Georgetown University, joined the military and gained some global recognition speaking at the UN General Assembly. His wedding, experts say, marks his next crucial rite of passage.
“It’s not just a marriage, it’s the presentation of the future king of Jordan,” said political analyst Amer Sabaileh. “The issue of the crown prince has been closed.”
The kingdom declared Thursday a public holiday so crowds of people could gather after the wedding service to wave at the couple’s motorcade of red Land Rover jeeps — a nod to the traditional procession of horse riders clad in red coats during the reign of the country’s founder, King Abdullah I. Tens of thousands of well-wishers are expected to flock to free concerts and cultural events.
Reuters
Reuters
Zahran Palace in Amman, where the marriage ceremony was held, hasn’t seen such pomp and circumstance since 1993, when, on a similarly sunny June day, Abdullah married Rania, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. Decades earlier, Abdullah's father, the late King Hussein, sealed his vows in the same garden with his second wife, the British citizen Antoinette Gardiner.
In addition to the Prince and Princess of Wales, the guest list includes an array of foreign aristocrats and dignitaries, including senior royals from Europe and Asia, as well as US climate envoy John Kerry. Other likely attendees include Saudi aristocrats, as Alseif’s mother comes from the same influential family as the late mother of King Salman. Her billionaire father owns a major construction firm in the kingdom.
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