Saturday's royal wedding between Crown Prince Felipe de Bourbon and former TV newsreader Letizia Ortiz smashed all records as it drew a television audience of 25 million, Spanish public television said on Monday.
With driving rain falling on the day, many royal fans stayed indoors to watch the action unfold in their own sitting rooms, boosting the overall audience to 25,145,000 in a country with an overall population of 40.8 million.
The previous record audience came for the weddings of Felipe's two sisters - Cristina and Elena, who drew 22.6 and 21.3 million viewers for their nuptials in 1997 and 1995 respectively.
A shoal of special newspaper supplements on "La Boda del Siglo" (the wedding of the century) were on sale Monday to cater for the huge public interest in the story as former news presenter Ortiz became the first commoner to come in line for the Spanish throne.
The royal couple headed off for a visit to the city of Cuenca, some 130 kilometres (100 miles) east of Madrid and famous for its cliffside "hanging houses," after the wedding, visiting the city cathedral on Monday.
A crowd of some 200 people gathered to greet them.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004

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