JOY AS PRINCE WEDS

Sunday Mirror, Feb 3, 2002 by ISABEL CONWAY

THE cream of European royalty was on parade yesterday as a Crown Prince wed his investment banker bride.

And Amsterdam ground to a halt as giant street parties celebrated the marriage of Holland's Willem Alexander to Argentinian-born Maxima Zorreguieta, in the Nieuwe Kerk church in Dam Square.

Outside transvestites in white wedding dresses and tiaras danced in the street.

The 500 guests included Prince Charles and Prince Edward and wife Sophie - who spent most of the afternoon trailing after Charles, desperate to be pictured with him. Also there were UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela and Queen Noor of Jordan.

The 30-year-old bride wore an ivory silk long-sleeved gown with a 5m long train, designed by Valentino. Her bridesmaids wore dark red.

Casting a shadow on the day was the absence of the bride's parents, who were not invited. Maxima's father Jorge Zorreguieta was a member of a notorious fascist regime in Argentina in the 70s when thousands of his opposition politicians "disappeared".

Small demonstrations drawing attention to the economic crisis in Argentina were kept away from the route of the royal procession.