Another royal wedding in Europe

Spain's crown prince and his commoner fiancee have wed in Madrid's Almudena Cathedral. Prince Felipe married 31-year-old divorced former television journalist Letizia Ortiz Saturday, in a lavish ceremony before 1,600 invited guests, and an estimated 1.2 billion television viewers worldwide.

A million people were expected to take to the streets of the Spanish capital to celebrate the royal nuptials.

Ms. Ortiz became Princess Letizia of Asturias. She is the first commoner in more than 500 years to be in line to be Spain's queen, informs voanews.com

According to cbc.ca the ceremony gave Spain a reason to celebrate after the March 11 commuter train bombings, but as a reminder of the tragedy, Spanish officials arranged extremely tight security.

Tens of thousands of police and security personnel patrolled the streets of city, while the airspace over Madrid and many roads and railway accesses was closed off.

The security concerns were also a reminder of the last royal wedding ceremony in Madrid, back in 1906. Then, a bomb concealed in a bouquet of flowers was thrown at King Alfonso XIII. The anarchist attack killed 20 people and left blood spattered onto the dress of the bride.

At Sunday's event, Crown Prince Felipe's face lit up as the bride showed up in her designer wedding dress, with a radiant smile and tugging a 4.5-metre-long train toward the altar.

Long one of Europe's most eligible royals, Felipe looked outside the ranks of royalty for his bride. He chose a 31-year-old divorcee who was a rising star for Spain's most popular news broadcaster before saying yes to a proposal that will make her queen of Spain some day.

The 36-year-old heir to the throne, the prince of Asturias, wore military dress uniform, entering the cathedral on the arm of his mother, who wore a champagne coloured gown.

His popular father, King Juan Carlos, wore an admiral's dress uniform.

A torrential downpour began on Saturday just as Letizia prepared to enter the cathedral in a fitted wedding gown with a 4.5-metre (15-foot) train, a conservative V-shaped neckline and a high collar. The tiara had been worn by Felipe's mother Queen Sofia at her wedding.

It was Madrid's first royal wedding since 1906, when Felipe's great-grandfather, Alfonso XIII, married Briton Victoria Eugenia. Both survived an anarchist bomb thrown at the wedding procession that killed about 20 people, informs reuters.co.uk