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This is an archive article published on December 21, 2000

Security to check `down under’ on Madonna’s wedding

DORNOCH, SCOTLAND, DEC 20: Security is so tight for Madonna's Highland wedding that guards will be checking with mirrors under the guests'...

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DORNOCH, SCOTLAND, DEC 20: Security is so tight for Madonna’s Highland wedding that guards will be checking with mirrors under the guests’ kilts to see they have no hidden cameras.

Skibo Castle has been dubbed "Colditz" by the locals because of the stringent security clampdown for the Queen of Pop’s wedding on Friday to British film director Guy Ritchie.

At her first Californian wedding to Hollywood wild boy Sean Penn in 1985, the roar of paparazzi helicopters overhead drowned out their wedding vows.

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This time Madonna is determined to avoid another unseemly media scrum — so security guards will even be peeping under kilts and inside sporrans to check for hideaway cameras–and solve the mystery of what Scotsmen really do wear under there.

"Madonna’s bodyguards are a pretty hard-bitten bunch. Theythink this idea is a hoot and are calling themselves the Sporran Legion," one castle insider told Wednesday’s Daily Star. Police sources confirmed that "nothing would be off limits" in the security operation.

Tabloids have gone into overdrive to glean every detail ofBritain’s show business wedding of the year.

In the meanwhile, The Sun revealed that Madonna has asked Sir Elton John to play his instrumental hit "Song For Guy" at the reception as a touching tribute to her future husband.

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The pop icon has hired a 12,500 pound ($18,360) piano so Elton can "tinkle the ivories" while she and Ritchie lead off the dancing at the lavish reception.

Sting is also due to burst into song at the reception and Madonna has arranged for a special CD recording to be made so that guests will be given a memorable soundtrack souvenir.

The sleepy little Scottish town of Dornoch has been turned into a Highland Hollywood with guests flying in by private jet for the showbusiness extravaganza.

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow is set to be the maid of honour. Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, who introduced the star-struck couple two years ago, are among the guests.

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Also given one of the coveted invitations is Carlos Leon, Madonna’s fitness trainer and father of her four-year-old daughter Lourdes.

Ending a long family chill, Madonna’s father Tony will leadher up the aisle. Her mother died of cancer when she was six and her father, a strict disciplinarian, married again.

The wedding looks set to be major boost to Scottish tourism.Highland Council spokesman Gordon Fyfe said: "We could never in a million years pay for the sort of publicity we have been getting because of this wedding. It has really put the Highlands on the world map."

The 42-year-old Madonna is the mistress of reinvention and her wedding is no exception.

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The tabloids have dubbed her "Mamma-Donna" for Thursday’schristening in Dornoch Cathedral of her and Rtitchie’s son Rocco. The woman whose raunchy videos were once condemned by the Vatican is to sing Ave Maria at the ceremony.

Then on Friday it is the turn of "McDonna". The MaterialGirl is to sport a tartan sash for her wedding to Ritchie, who will be resplendent in a kilt to honour his father and grandfather who served in the Seaforth Highlanders, a local regiment.

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