The future king of the oil-rich sultanate of Brunei married a 17-year-old half-Swiss commoner yesterday in Asia's wedding of the year, attended by royalty and dignitaries from around the world.
Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah, 30, son of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah -- the absolute and fabulously wealthy ruler of 350,000 subjects -- wed Sarah Salleh before 2,000 people in a traditional Malay Muslim ceremony at Istana Nurul Iman, the 1,788-room main palace.
The sultan escorted the prince -- wearing a gold crown and a kris dagger tucked into his sash -- to a golden chair on the dais. He was joined by his bride, who emerged from a stateroom more than an hour behind schedule.
The prince placed a hand on Sarah's diamond tiara as Muslim marriage prayers were recited for the centuries-old ceremony. She stood radiant in an embroidered blue dress and veil and clasped a gold-and-diamond bouquet. They then descended from the dais and kissed the sultan for his blessing.
The couple embarked in an open gold-colored, Rolls-Royce stretch limousine for an 8km parade across the capital, accompanied by 103 limousines and vehicles carrying family members as a marching band played.
But a tropical downpour soaked the couple, despite footmen walking alongside their vehicle with umbrellas.
The crown prince enjoys billiards and was educated at Oxford. He will be the 30th sultan in a line stretching back 600 years.
His bride, whose father is a manager at the Public Works Department, is "known among her teachers and friends for her grace, intelligence and positive attitude," the official wedding booklet said.
The bride's mother, the former Suzanne Aeby from a village outside Zurich, wore a blue veil and traditional Malay dress at the ceremony. She came to Brunei in the 1970s as a nurse and worked at the Health Ministry.
The ceremony caps two weeks of official celebrations taking place in one of Asia's smallest but richest countries, which shares Borneo island with Malaysia and Indonesia. An extravagant banquet for the guests was scheduled for today, followed by a fireworks display.
The Brunei ruling family's extravagance is legendary, and the sultan was the world's richest man before the advent of the high-tech era -- and a series of financial blunders blamed on his younger brother, Prince Jefri, in the 1990s, that resulted in the loss of an estimated US$7 billion.
Now living in Europe, Jefri was not present at the ceremony. It was unclear whether he was invited.
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