Royal weddings in Turkey and Monaco

In a rare marital alliance between two prominent non-European royal families, Prince Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Prince of Sa'id, son of King Fuad II, married Princess Noal Zaher of Afghanistan, granddaughter of King Zahir Shah (and therefore cousin & niece respectively of the two Afghan princes I had met several days earlier), in Istanbul on Friday. In this picture the groom's father, who reigned as an infant 1952-53 and is still for monarchists Egypt's legitimate head of state, escorts his new daughter-in-law and son.

The following day, August 31, Andrea Casiraghi, son of Princess Caroline of Monaco (and eventual successor to the throne if his uncle Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene remain childless), married heiress Tatiana Santo Domingo. The couple already have a son, Sacha, born in March, who with his parents' marriage now becomes third in line to the throne.

Congratulations to both couples.