My wedding photos have been in a Flickr album for ages already, and I posted the link on social media, but not yet on my blog. As you might know, I nearly spent a week in and around Lisbon, Portugal, early October 2023. My 50th birthday two weeks earlier, and the royal wedding of Dona Infanta Maria Francisca de Bragança, Duquesa de Coimbra, and Duarte de Sousa Araújo Martins at the Real Basilica de Mafra on 7 October 2023, were the reason for me to fly to Portugal. Lisbon had been on my to-do-list for at least 20 years, so it was about time.
The weather in Portugal was unexpectedly hot, sometimes over 30 C, sometimes just below. The royal wedding day itself was no exception. Together with Jelland, a Dutch royalty watcher, who had flown to Portugal especially for the wedding, I started my journey to Mafra on Saturday 7 October 2023 after breakfast. We took the metro to a station, and from there, we were supposed to take a bus. According to apps the bus was supposed to go, the bus stop said no buses on Saturday. To be sure we would reach Mafra, we took a taxi and of course arrived far too early.
Preparations were on its way. The red carpet was already there, also some trees lined the steps up to the basilica. Monarchists set up an information stall, and there was a small, but very nice local market just opposite the basilica. We walked around a bit, and happened to meet photographer Albert Nieboer from Royal Press Europe. It was already too warm to do much, so we just sat on a terrace, had drinks and bought some pastries for the afternoon. We were joined later on by American royalty watcher Seth Leonard and his mother Sally.
Although nothing supposed to start until after 2pm, it turned out around noon the first media people were already up the stairs: the journalists and photographers came from Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, The Netherlands … All having accreditation for the wedding, we went up the stairs and took our places. Then the long wait started. Luckily, the portal of the basilica was quite cool and protected us from the warm sun. That was especially handy when the wedding was actually on its way. While both the guests inside the cathedral and the people waiting outside experiences heath, we had a nice, cool place. On the other hand, they had a better look at the big screen, on which the wedding was shown.
There were not too many photographers and journalists, and nearly everybody took care not to stand in front of somebody else’s camera. One by one, the guests walked up the steep stairs to the basilica. It however took quite a while until the bride and her father arrived in a horse-drawn carriage. It was a wonderful sight seeing them walk on the blue carpet. Inside the portal of the basilica, I was able to enjoy hearing the service and get something to eat.
Finally, the wedding was over. First the newly-weds and their family came out, then all the guests. At the bottom of the stairs, a wedding cake waited to be cut by the bride and groom. It turned out, most of the media at the basilica wasn’t allowed to go down the stairs to take pictures. Somehow, I managed to get there anyway and take photos of the couple cutting the cake. Only after a while, a policeman noticed my accreditation had the wrong colour. He told me to either wait on the side or find my way through the people lining the carpet. So I just waited and was pretty close to the family and the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
When the president said goodbye to the family and was about to leave, I was so close, that he shortly put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me. I guess he might have heard my protests, or I was simply the closest to him. After he left, young people started to hand out small pieces of the wedding cake to the people. I was denied a piece, as I was a journalist. The two brothers of the bride, Afonso and Dinis, posed for me together. And then I decided to leave the place and go up the stairs again. Oh well, I needed to find my way through the people after all. Up the stairs, nearly all the guests had unfortunately left. However, when I once again asked one of the young people handing out the cakes, if we could have one, we were finally able to taste it instead of looking at it.
The Duke and Duchess of Bragança were so kind to pay attention to the media. Some young Portuguese journalists managed to speak to the Duchess. I was close, but didn’t understand a word of it. I was near the edge of a step, and the Duke actually told me to be careful. Thanks to a nice man working for the National Palace of Mafra, we were able to receive an order of service. Of course, Jelland and I were among the diehards waiting for the guests leaving the reception. Some posed, others were tired and just wanted to go into their buses or cars. Finally, around 7pm, when it was nearly dark, the bridal couple left.
And then it was also time for us to leave Mafra. Trying to find out how to get back to Lisbon, Jelland and I were sitting at the bus stop to figure out how to order an Uber, when actually the bus we had to take back to Lisbon arrived. Apparently you can’t trust the information given at the stops at all, but have to rely on public transport apps. Anyway, we smoothly got back to Lisbon, having a great view on all the lights of the city during the journey. Back in Lisbon, we had a very nice late dinner with a great dessert, and went to our respective hotels to get a well deserved rest after a wonderful royal wedding day.
- My Flickr Album
- Photos of Royal Press Europe
- Jelland’s photos for Royal (Travel) Guide
