Remembering some of the most cherished moments of world history when wedding bells tolled and two people united in love in magical surroundings
As the sun dipped low over the hills on the picturesque island of Spetes, a Prince of Greece, promised to love and honour a shy Venezuelan girl who was working as an events planner in London, in a wedding ceremony described as “Mamma Mia, with aristocrats” (the bride having asked an assortment of English nobles and Scandinavian princes to trade their formal finery for caftans and sandals).
A cheer went up from the crowd when Prince Nikolaos, 40, the third of King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie’s five children, for years one of Europe’s most eligible bachelors, arrived at the whitewashed monastery of Ayios accompanied by his mother, on the day he was to wed Tatiana Blatnik.
Among the dazzling array of distinguished guests who watched the arrival of the groom were Princess Mary representing the Danish royal family, along with her mother-in-law, Queen Margrethe, who is Anne-Marie’s sister – making her the groom’s aunt - Queen Sofia of Spain, Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Princes Daniel.
The bride, however, was the one everyone wanted to see. Possessing all the charms of the prototypical princess: flaxen hair, perfect teeth, arresting green eyes, enviable posture she proved an expert in wearing a tiara and sash.
Born in Caracas to parents of Slovenian and German origin, Tatiana went to boarding school in Switzerland and studied sociology at Georgetown. Before being swept up into the Greek royal family she worked for Diane von Furstenberg and lived a posh yet discreet life in London’s Chelsea neighborhood.
Prince Nikolaos, who had worked in television and banking but now spends his days as a landscape photographer, first came to Greece at age 11, when the government permitted the royal family to return for just eight hours to bury Nikolaos’s grandmother Queen Frederika, who had died in Spain after complications from surgery. Nikolaos brought Tatiana to Greece for the first time in 2004, around the Olympics, and she recalls the deep impact the journey had on both of them.
“Coming here was really emotional, overwhelmingly so, because Nikolaos was so attached to the idea of Greece and couldn’t get enough of it,” she says. “One night, I was exhausted and wanted to go to bed but he pleaded with me, ‘No, please, I must watch every sunset and every sunrise. I’ve been longing for this my whole life.’ ”
On her wedding day, sweeping up to the monastery in the horse-drawn carriage that is customary on the island, Tatiana looked breathtaking in an ivory Angel Sanchez gown with a chantilly lace overlay, teamed with a matching bolero and full-length veil. Completing the regal yet feminine look was a pair of diamond drop earrings and the antique corsage tiara, lent by her new mother-in-law. Since her own father sadly passed away when she was small, the 29-year-old was escorted up the aisle by her stepfather Attilio Brillembourg.
Once inside the monastery the elegant blond received a wedding band to complement a stunning engagement ring, topped with a sapphire that was given to Nikolaos by his mother, who received it from her own parents, King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark. Having arrived Ms Tatiana Blatnik, she left HRH Princess Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark.
Described as ‘Blatnik’s Jet Set courtship’ by one magazine, Tatiana had met her future husband, who was a friend of her brother’s, in a nightclub in Switzerland. “It was like something out of a movie,” she said later. “He pursued me for over a year.”
But, no doubt she was in love with him too. The applause that rang out from the crowd when she received a passionate kiss from her groom on her wedding day, was obviously prompted by the sight of a couple deeply in love.
-Aditha
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