Spanish Crown Prince Felipe of Bourbon kisses his bride Princess of Asturias Letizia Ortiz after their wedding in Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral. (AFP)

Madrid, May 22 (Reuters): Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe married former television presenter Letizia Ortiz today in a glittering ceremony symbolising a new dawn for Spain more than two months after the deadly Madrid train bombings.

A torrential downpour began as Letizia entered Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral for the capital’s first royal wedding in nearly a century.

But the rain did not dampen the spirits of tens of thousands of well-wishers straining for a view of the couple or watching the ceremony on huge screens in central Madrid.

“Letizia, take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity to you...,” the prince said, at one point forgetting his lines, during a televised ceremony beamed to a billion people worldwide.

But crowds of well-wishers urging the couple to seal the marriage with a passionate kiss were disappointed.

Felipe gave his bride a peck on the cheek when they came out on the palace balcony to greet the crowd after the wedding.

“With good weather, without umbrellas, it would have been something else, but I am thrilled anyway. We saw the prince from five metres away,” nurse Marta Blanco said, jumping up and down with excitement.