Royals tour Canada, Monaco gets a new princess (AP)

Friday was a royal watcher's bonanza, with wedding vows, an official visit — and poignant reminders of princesses past.

Monaco's Prince Albert II took the plunge with Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock of South Africa, marrying her in a civil ceremony ahead of a religious service Saturday. His father, Prince Rainier III, wed Hollywood actress Grace Kelly in the tiny country 55 years ago.

British royal newlyweds Prince William and Kate — the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — won raucous cheers from an estimated 300,000 people while touring Ottawa on Canada's national holiday. It was their first official visit abroad after their widely watched wedding in April.

And admirers of the late Princess Diana gathered at the gates of Kensington Palace in London to leave tributes to her and share their memories on what would have been the 50th birthday of "the people's princess."

Kathy Martin of Australia who left a tribute at the gates said both Grace and Diana were icons who died in car accidents at a young age — Grace in 1982 and Diana in 1997.

"They'll be remembered as princesses — beautiful, radiant princesses," Martin said.

Diana also was on the minds of some Canadians in the crowd greeting her son, William, and his wife.

"Happy Birthday Lady Di. Canadians love you," read one sign held up during the Canada Day celebrations.

The red-and-white-clad crowd chanted "Will and Kate" frequently during their appearance on Parliament Hill to mark Canada's 144th birthday on the second day of the royal visit.

Kate was similarly attired in Canada's colors, wearing a cream dress by the London designer Reiss, complete with a maple leaf brooch, and a brilliant red hat topped with a maple leaf. Queen Elizabeth II loaned the brooch to the duchess for the tour; the queen wore it in 1951 as a princess on her first visit to Canada.

William, who wore a blue suit and a red tie, thrilled the crowd as he spoke in English and French for the second day in a row and drew loud cheers when he referred to his grandmother as "the queen of Canada."

He also reminded the crowd how Kate's grandfather "held Canada dear to his heart" after training in the province of Alberta as a young pilot in World War II.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomed the royal couple as "the world's most famous newlyweds."

Their other stops in Canada include Quebec City and Calgary before traveling to Los Angeles on July 8.

In sun-splashed Monaco, residents of the principality cheered as Prince Albert and his new bride appeared at a palace window, waved and kissed shyly after exchanging vows in the civil ceremony.

Albert's sisters — Princess Stephanie and Princess Caroline — were among an audience of several dozen inside the throne room, the red silk-walled hall where Grace and Rainier once took their vows. Rainier died in 2005.

Wittstock wore a silken blue jacket with ankle-length palazzo pants, an outfit press handlers said was made by fashion house Chanel, while Albert wore a sober dark suit and white tie.

Saturday's Roman Catholic ceremony will also take place in the palace, followed by a gala dinner by famed chef Alain Ducasse. The guest list included the kings of Spain, Sweden, Lesotho and Belgium; the presidents of France, Iceland, Ireland, Lebanon, Malta, Germany and Hungary; opera singers, models and race car drivers.

Wittstock swam for South Africa at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, while Albert has been an International Olympic Committee member since 1985 and competed in five Winter Olympics as part of Monaco's bobsled team. They met at a 2000 swimming competition in Monaco.

Albert, 53, acknowledged having fathered two children out of wedlock — a now-teenage daughter with a California woman and a son with a flight attendant of Togolese origin.

Before the wedding, the 33-year-old Wittstock said she wanted children of her own.

"I love children and have always wanted to have children of my own," she said on BFM television, sitting next to Albert with a close-lipped, tense smile. "We'll see in the next couple of months or years."

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Associated Press Writers Jenny Barchfield in Monaco; Rob Gillies in Ottawa, Ontario; Charmaine Noronha in Toronto, and Matt Dunham in London contributed to this story.

British princess celebrates graduation with tennis trip (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Britain's Princess Beatrice, whose eccentric hat made headlines at the royal wedding, celebrated her graduation Friday by spending the day at the Wimbledon tennis championships.

Beatrice, fifth in line to the throne, earned a 2:1, the second-highest grade, in her history and history of ideas degree at London's Goldsmiths College.

The 22-year-old, the eldest daughter of Queen Elizabeth II's second son Prince Andrew, was diagnosed with dyslexia in her childhood.

"I have had the most amazing university experience," the princess said in a statement.

"I am so excited about my results."

The redhead's flamboyant hat, which stunned onlookers at the April 29 wedding of her cousin Prince William and Kate Middleton, was likened to a giant pretzel and a toilet seat.

It made £81,100 ($130,375, 89,700 euros) when it was auctioned for charity.

Beatrice was in the Royal Box on Centre Court on Friday to watch the men's semi-finals.

The princess does not currently carry out royal engagements.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "In terms of her future, like a lot of students she'll be considering her options."

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene say 'I do' (AFP)

MONACO (AFP) – Prince Albert II of Monaco and South African beauty Princess Charlene married Saturday in front of 800 royal and celebrity guests, the tense bride finally shedding a few tears as the day came to an end.

Arrayed in a stunning Armani gown cut from 130 metres of silk and studded with 40,000 crystals, the world's newest royal briefly showed the emotion of a week of ugly rumours and a tightly stage-managed wedding spectacular.

Earlier in the week the world's press reported rumours that the 33-year-old swimming champion had been intercepted trying to flee home to South Africa.

Once the festivities had begun, palace officials finally admitted that there had been a "hiccup" in preparations when Charlene learned that Albert may face demands for a paternity test after a claim by a former lover.

On Saturday there was no sign of stress until Charlene's emotional tears, which welled up in a small local shrine to Monaco's patron saint when a mother and her 11-year-old daughter sang a simple hymn to the Virgin Mary.

She dried her eyes, gave her husband a brief kiss, and then returned to the open-topped Lexus that was to take her to host a wedding banquet at Monaco's opera house, opposite the city-state's famed casino.

Earlier, thousands of wellwishers had watched the religious wedding service on big screens outside the royal palace and around the principality.

Archbishop Bernard Barsi of Monaco asked each whether they accepted each other "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part." Both replied with a firm: "Yes."

Then the couple -- Charlene, noticeably less tense than she had been at the first ceremony, and occasionally smiling -- exchanged rings in 18-carat white gold and platinum by the House of Cartier.

South African singer Pumela Matshikiza celebrated with a popular, upbeat wedding song from Charlene's homeland: "Diviner of the roadways, the knock knock beetle / It just passed by here, the knock knock beetle."

As couple left the palace, arm in arm, he in his cream uniform and officer's uniform, the bells of the principalities many churches rang and guests showered them with rose petals.

Some 800 guests attended the service in the palace, and another 3,800 were outside watching on a large screen, cheering as popular guests like James Bond actor Roger Moore and former French first lady Bernadette Chirac arrived.

Aside from France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and the kings and queens of Sweden and Belgium, the crowd included fashion designers, models, sportsmen, more minor royals and senior officials from the tiny principality.

Albert, at 53, is two decades older than his blonde bride and has two children from previous relationships.

But even if a third or a fourth is confirmed he will still not have an official heir until his lawful wife bears him one.

"We can't remake the prince. It's a modern marriage. Charlene has known him for a long time and accepts it," shrugged a 30-something wellwisher, insisting on remaining anonymous like many of Monaco's 7,810-strong native population.

"We just want the Grimaldi dynasty to continue," said a 72-year-old Monegasque, a direct descendant of a group of Genoan migrants who settled the rocky Riviera outcrop and future tax haven in 1775.

Guests arrived in a cavalcade of 200 BMW 7 Series limousines and striding across the red carpet towards the palace, with early arrivals including Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova and retired tennis ace Henri Leconte.

Pop star Jean-Michel Jarre received warm applause from locals still grateful for the previous night's spectacular concert. Heels were high, hats were broad and many guests seemed to have ignored a request for covered shoulders.

The bride and her beau set off across the city state in an open-topped Lexus hybrid, number plate 001M, a gesture to the prince's green credentials amid otherwise extravagant scenes of champagne quaffing and fireworks.