JORDAN’S Crown Prince married the scion of a prominent Saudi family on Thursday in a palace celebration attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world as massive crowds gathered in a mood of excitement across the kingdom. The marriage of Crown Prince Hussein, 28, and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, 29, drew a star-studded guest list headlined by Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate and which also included US First Lady Jill Biden. The celebrations hold deep significance for the region, emphasising continuity in an Arab state prised for its long-standing stability and refreshing the monarchy’s image after a palace feud. It even could help resource-poor Jordan forge a strategic bond with its oil-rich neighbour, Saudi Arabia. The bride, wearing an elegant white dress, arrived at Zahran Palace in a 1968 Rolls-Royce Phantom V custom-made for the Crown Prince’s late great grandmother. The Crown Prince arrived earlier in full ceremonial military uniform with a gold-hilted saber.

The families and their guests gathered in an open-air gazebo surrounded by landscaped gardens for a traditional Muslim wedding ceremony known as “katb al-ketab.” The crowd erupted in applause after the signing of the marriage contract. Several miles away, a jolt went through a crowd gathered at a an ancient Roman amphitheater as they watched the couple seal their vows and exchange rings on a wide screen set up for the occasion. After several minutes of stillness, thousands were on their feet, waving flags and shrieking with excitement at one of several viewing parties held across the nation.

Samara Aqrabawi, a 55-year-old mother watching the livestream with her young daughter, said the ceremony was more impressive than she imagined. “I wish for all mothers and fathers in Jordan and in the world to feel like they’re surely feeling,” she said of the king and queen. “This is an important day because he is our future king,” said Ahmad al-Masri, an 18-year-old attending with his family. “All of Jordan is watching.” On Thursday morning, Saudi wedding guests and tourists — the men wearing white dishdasha robes and the women in brightly coloured abayas — filtered through the sleek marbled lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman. Noura Al Sudairi, an aunt of the bride, was wearing sweatpants and sneakers on her way to breakfast.

“We are all so excited, so happy about this union,” she said. “Of course it’s a beautiful thing for our families, and for the relationship between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.” Excitement over the nuptials — Jordan’s biggest royal event in years — has been building in the capital of Amman, where congratulatory banners of Hussein and his beaming bride adorn buses and hang over winding hillside streets. Shops had competing displays of royal regalia. Royal watchers speculated about which dress designer Alseif would select— still an official secret. “She looks like such a princess that I think she deserves him,” Suhair Afaneh, a 37-year-old businesswoman, said of the bride, lingering in front of a portrait of Hussein in a dark suit. “But so what, I’ll still be in love with him.”