Lavish celebrations for the wedding of Prince Abdul Mateen of Brunei and his wife reached a climax yesterday with a glittering ceremony attended by government leaders and blue-blooded guests from Asia and the Middle East.
Mateen, 32, wore a ceremonial uniform while his 29-year-old bride was in a long white dress and sparkling jewels for the event at the sprawling Istana Nurul Iman palace.
They made their first public appearance as a married couple in a procession through the normally sleepy capital Bandar Seri Begawan in front of thousands of onlookers.
Photo: AFP
The popular prince was one of Asia’s most eligible bachelors until he tied the knot with Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Anak Isteri Anisha Rosnah, who is from a prominent family in Brunei.
Mateen’s father is Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the world’s longest-reigning monarch and once the richest man on the planet.
There was a festive atmosphere in the city with free ice cream on offer and soft drinks for sale as people began to take positions along the parade route hours before it began.
Wearing a traditional formal outfit and matching songkok hat, retired banker Haji Suhaimin Abas, 66, was among the elite Bruneians to receive an invitation to the wedding ceremony.
“This is a very big celebration,” he said as he ate breakfast before going to the palace.
Royalty from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Bhutan were listed among the reported 5,000 guests. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos were among government leaders in attendance.
Yesterday’s celebration is the highlight of 10 days of pomp and pageantry in the tiny country, whose extreme wealth is derived almost entirely from its enormous oil and gas reserves.
Mateen, a British-trained military officer in Brunei’s armed forces and a helicopter pilot, held court with his wife at the elaborate ceremony before invited guests.
The ceremony was steeped in tradition drawn from Brunei’s centuries-old history as an Islamic monarchy.
The couple stood in the back of an open-top Rolls-Royce waving to onlookers as they weaved through the capital, where their images have been displayed on street arches and building facades for days.
Many of the sultan’s subjects lined the streets under a scorching sun to catch a glimpse of the couple.
Hajah Aminah Abd Morsidee, 91, who has seen five royal weddings in her lifetime, said she was “happy to see Prince Mateen marrying the beautiful Anisha.”
Schoolteacher Norliha Mohamad Din, 37, said it was a “once-in-a-lifetime moment.”
“I have seen Prince Mateen since he was small,” she said. “I’m very happy for him. This is one way of showing appreciation to the royal family.”
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS