William, Kate Join 1,700 Guests at Lavish Jordanian Royal Wedding
It was dubbed the royal wedding of the year and it did not disappoint.
More than 1,700 guests, including British royals and world leaders, descended on the Jordanian capital on Thursday to see a Saudi billionaire’s daughter ride a custom Rolls-Royce to her wedding to the nation’s crown prince.
Among the big names in attendance were Prince William and Princess Kate of the British royal family and United States first lady Jill Biden. Also present at the Zahran Palace were U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, Princess Charlotte, and royals from Belgium, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Japan, Sky News reported.
William and Kate’s appearance at the wedding remained under wraps until they were seen at a hotel in the capital on Wednesday. The pair met with Jordan’s king and queen before settling in to watch Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II exchange rings with Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif in a much-hyped union.
Alseif—now officially known as Her Royal Highness Princess Rajwa Al Hussein—rode to the palace in a custom-built 1968 Rolls-Royce Phantom V. She wore a white dress, while the crown prince appeared beside her in a military uniform complete with a gold sword.
In a traditional Muslim ceremony, the pair signed a marriage contract in an open-air gazebo wreathed in flowers and surrounded by guests. They departed in a motorcade flanked by a squad of Land Rovers and motorcycles, as well as a military band, bound for a reception with an expected 1,700 attendees, the Associated Press reported.
The 29-year-old Alseif, who went to college in the U.S., is the daughter of a Saudi billionaire with family ties to the country’s monarchy. Her union with Crown Prince Hussein could help forge deeper ties between the neighboring Arab states. Her new husband, also educated in the U.S., has become an increasingly visible figure in the country and around the globe.
The Jordanian monarchy had heavily promoted the wedding on social media and around the capital, possibly seeking to boost its reputation amid economic woes.
Crowds that had gathered to watch broadcasts of the event erupted into cheers and waved Jordanian flags when the two finally tied the knot, according to the AP.
Thursday doesn’t mark the end of the newly married couple’s wedding festivities. On June 10, the pair is scheduled to join a 450-person beachfront soiree on the Italian island of Sardinia—where they’ve run afoul of locals for installing a massive steel structure on the shore of an adjacent islet.
Source: The Daily Beast
