Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Catholic interfaith leader weds Austrian princess

Princess Marie-Therese Von Hohenberg was married to Anthony Bailey KCSS in a glittering service at St Peter's Abbey in Salzburg on Saturday.

The Nuptial Mass was concelebrated by Archbishop Eugenio Sbarbaro, Apostolic Nuncio to Serbia with the Rt Rev George Stack, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster representing Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the Rt Rev Thomas Burns, Roman Catholic Bishop of the Armed Forces, His Grace Edmund Wagenhofer, Archabbot of St Peter's and Fr Michael Seed from Westminster Cathedral.

Senior ecumenical leaders, politicians and royalty were among the 600 guests. Blessings were read out from Pope Benedict XVI, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams and the head of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Ignatius Zakka I Iwas. Readers included Hazel Blears, MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Nirj Deva, MEP, and Fr Michael Seed from Westminster Cathedral

The Princess wore a tiara of the Hohenberg Family and her dress was designed by Valentino. Princess Marie-Therese is the great granddaughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in 1914 led to the outbreak of World War One.

Anthony Bailey, is the Chairman of the British Labour Party's Faith Task Force and holds other ministerial advisory roles with the Department of Children, Schools and Families.

After the wedding ceremony, the couple headed to the Salzburg Festival Hall for the reception, before making their final stop at the country's former royal palace, the Residence of Salzburg, for a white tie ball.

On Sunday the guests attended a farewell brunch for at Salzburg's Museum of Modern Art, before the newlyweds jetted off on their month-long honeymoon in Asia.
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