SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) - One of Europe's wealthiest aristocrats, the 85-year-old Duchess of Alba, wedded a civil servant 24 years her junior in a Seville palace on Wednesday after 1. opposition from her children and Spain's royal family.
Hundreds of onlookers gathered outside the palace, 2. fans against the hot Andalusian sun, to 3. a glimpse of the flamboyant duchess whose colourful clothing and cloud of frizzy white hair are a mainstay of Spanish gossip magazines.
The twice-widowed duchess, known 4. her love of flamenco dancing and bull-fighting, ventured outside the palace to greet well-wishers after the ceremony. She threw her 5. of flowers into the crowd and danced flamenco in front of a forest of TV cameras.
The duchess's six children had been 6. opposed to the marriage with 61-year-old Alfonso Diez, with whom she started to step 7. in 2008, but have softened to the idea following the matriach's move to divide her fortune between them in July.
The wedding plans even 8. with disapproval from Spain's royal family 8. King Juan Carlos has since given his blessing to the couple, the duchess said in a recent interview with news agency EFE.
The duchess's fortune includes ancient palaces throughout Spain, paintings by Spanish masters Velazquez and Goya, and huge 10. of land. Her wealth is estimated at between 600 million and 3.5 billion euros (3 billion pounds). The preparations for the wedding have dominated Spanish newspapers and television. The balcony with the best view of the palace entrance has been 11. to a television company for 8,000 euros, El Mundo newspaper reported.
The Duchess of Alba, the third woman to hold the title in her own right, married her first husband in 1947. They were married for 25 years until he died of leukaemia. She walked 12. the aisle with her second husband, a former Jesuit priest, in 1978. He died after 23 years of marriage.
"I am a practising Roman Catholic, that's why I'm marrying for a third time, unfortunately my two previous husbands died," she has said. Reuters
