Church wedding for Dutch prince

Prince Constantijn exchanged church vows with Brinkhorst

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Queen Beatrix's youngest son tied the knot on Saturday in a lavish church ceremony attended by more than 1,000 guests.

Prince Constantijn, 31, third in the line of succession to the throne, exchanged vows for the second time, following Thursday's civil ceremony with Laurentien Brinkhorst, the daughter of the Dutch agriculture minister.

Among the royal guests to the 80-minute ceremony in the medieval St. Jacob's church, were Japanese Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko and Belgium Prince Philippe and his pregnant wife Princess Mathilde.

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Also attending were Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and his fiancée Mette Marit Tjessem Holby and Britain's Prince Edward and wife Sophie Rhys-Jones.

Afterwards, well wishers thronged the Dutch capital's cobblestone lanes as the newlyweds rode in a horse-drawn chariot from the church.

A planned demonstration by a group of farmers opposed to Agriculture Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst's handling of the foot-and-mouth outbreak fizzled after police seized their banners, Reuters reported, citing a spokesman.

No other incidents were reported, the news agency said.

The upbeat mood of the ceremony was in stark contrast to the climate surrounding Queen Beatrix's marriage to German diplomat Claus von Amsberg in 1966.

At the time, memories of the Nazi occupation stirred resentment among many Dutch, who vented their anger with smoke bombs and violence on Amsterdam's streets.

Controversy may also surround the planned wedding, early next year, of Prince Constantijn's older brother, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander to Argentinian Maxima Zorreguieta.

That relationship has come under public criticism due to Zorreguieta's father's ties to Argentina's former military junta, Reuters reported.

Prince Constantijn, who studied law at Leiden University, is the first of the Queen's three sons to marry.

The bride and groom first met when the two were working in Brussels, Belgium five years ago. Prince Constantijn currently works for the European Commission.

The couple plans to settle in London after the wedding.

At Thursday's civil ceremony, well wishers, many of them sporting plastic orange crowns, gathered outside the registry.