100,000 see Hong Kong Alex marry

ALEXANDRA MANLEY of Discovery Bay became Princess Alexandra of Denmark yesterday in a fairytale wedding witnessed by more than 100,000 of her new fellow countrymen and women. In a dress of thick Italian silk embroidered with 8,900 pearls the 31-year-old Hong Kong woman married Prince Joachim, 26, in a snow-covered church on an island in a lake north of Copenhagen. Her bouquet featured Hong Kong's own bauhinia flower, leaves from the lime trees of her future home at Schackenborg Castle and the flowers of myrtle and rosemary. The vast Frederiksborg Castle Church was decorated with more than 10,000 blooms cascading down its columns and covering the silver and gold altar. Some 100,000 Danes lined the roads of the nearby village of Hilleroed where Calypso music and brass bands clashed together in a cacophony of noise. One hundred and twenty girls from a kindergarten nearby wore home-made bridal gowns as they waved at Alexandra as she arrived for the service at dusk. And later, as she left alongside her new husband in a 1958 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith, hundreds more held lighted torches along the route in a scene even Denmark's Hans Christian Andersen would have been hard-pressed to imagine. Extra lighting had been fitted inside the car for the 10-kilometre journey to the wedding breakfast at Queen Margrethe's country home of Fredensborg Palace. If Denmark has had Alexandra fever for the past few months yesterday it turned into a full epidemic. Newspapers brought out Alexandra supplements, advertisements for cars carried 'Just married' signs and there were even instructions in one tabloid on how to hold chopsticks for a wedding Chinese-style. Alexandra spent the early part of the day in preparation while the royal household led the royalty, including Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and Norwegian King Harald and Queen Sonja, into the church. The worst snow storms to grip the region in 10 years threatened the arrival of some. But local farmers joined council teams working through the night to clear the snow off the roads and as the service began the royals including Britain's Prince Edward were in place at the front of the church. The Copenhagen Boys Choir sang Handel's The King Shall Rejoice as Alexandra, accompanied by her sister Martina as bridesmaid and on the arm of her father Richard, was led up the aisle. The hour-long service, led by Royal Chaplain Christian Thodberg, was entirely in Danish but the vows were very similar to any wedding service around the world. Alexandra was confirmed into the Danish Protestant Church last week, and if she was nervous she was skilled enough in the protocol of the event not to show it. Outside the nearest restaurant, coincidentally owned by Hong Kong emigrant of 20 years Patrick Ack Min, was fully booked with small Danish and Hong Kong flags on every table. Alexandra and Joachim went on to a wedding breakfast with around 150 guests - 50 from Hong Kong and Austria from where her mother Christa hails. They dined on foie gras, lobster and Baltic fish and stuffed pheasant, toasted with vintage Moet et Chandon. Queen Margrethe welcomed her new daughter-in-law saying: 'From today you are Danish and your life and work will be in Denmark. Therefore, with all our heart we wish you welcome to Denmark.' She told Mr and Mrs Manley that although Alexandra would be very far from Hong Kong she should never regret the step she had taken. Alexandra's Chinese grandmother was born in Shanghai but according to Harold Brooks-Baker of the royal almanac Burke's Peerage distant relatives of the Russian tsars married Chinese and Mongolian people in the past. Nonetheless Alexandra is the first with Asian ancestry to marry so close to the heart of a European monarchy. After the meal the evening at the palace continued with dancing led by Joachim and Alexandra. But before they began, friends carried out a peculiar Danish tradition where one of the groom's shoes is removed and the toes are cut out of his sock. Later there were rainbow coloured fireworks on the snow-covered lawns, which their designers said would remind Alexandra of Chinese fireworks in Hong Kong. Sadly, Queen Margarethe's gift to the couple of a 17th-century chair was not ready on time. It is being renovated at the National Museum in Copenhagen and the upholestry is not complete. THE BRIDE ALEXANDRA CHRISTINA MANLEY TITLE ON MARRIAGE: Princess of Denmark. AGE: 31, born June 30, 1964, in Hong Kong. PARENTS: Richard and Christa Manley. FAMILY: Sisters, Nicola, 28, and Martina, 25. LINEAGE: British father, Austrian mother, Chinese grandmother on father's side, Polish grandfather on mother's side. EDUCATION: Graduated Island School. Studied economics in London and Vienna. LANGUAGES: Cantonese, French, German, Danish. AND GROOM JOACHIM HOLGER WALDEMAR CHRISTIAN TITLE: Prince of Denmark, second in line to throne. AGE: 26, born June 7, 1969, in Copenhagen. PARENTS: Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. FAMILY: One brother, Crown Prince Frederik, 28. LINEAGE: Danish mother, French father, Swedish grandmother. Descendant of Denmark's 19th century King Christian IX. EDUCATION: Oeregaard Gymnasium High School, Copenhagen. Studied farming and economics in Australia and Denmark. LANGUAGES: Danish, English, French.