MONITOR: THE MAJOR-NOBLE WEDDING

Reaction to the marriage of James Major and the former television game-show hostess, Emma Noble

The People

SATURDAY'S MARRIAGE of James Major to former Bruce Forsyth sidekick Emma Noble was so furtive it was more like a prison escape than a high- society wedding. That's because the couple had sold their big day to a celebrity magazine who did not want any other publications getting in on the act. Clearly the price was right!

The Times

OLD MARRIED couples look back at their wedding albums with fond nostalgia. James Major and his new bride Emma Noble may well look back at theirs and squirm. The former Tory Prime Minister's son accepted pounds 400,000 from Hello! magazine in return for exclusive coverage of his nuptials last Saturday. The resulting 22-page feature, plus cover, hit the newsstands this week, revealing that the newlyweds have paid a heavy price for their money. The pictures are fine. But the accompanying text is such an unbridled gush of saccharine that it teeters on the edge of parody. Wellwishers will be praying that overindulgent and excitable prose is all that the new Majors suffer, and that the full curse of Hello! does not visit them. (Alan Hamilton)

Evening Standard

A CRUEL fate has befallen James Major and his bride Emma Noble. Their dream wedding - the day for which they longed, but few expected to dawn - has been turned into a lurid parody by the people they accepted as benefactors. Hello! magazine paid the couple a handsome pounds 400,000 in exchange for exclusive rights to cover the event. Now, as the magazine hits the news-stands today, it has become clear that those rights included the option to hold the hapless pair up to ridicule. No young couple should have to start life together under the shadow of this kind of treatment. (Keith Dovkants)

The Mirror

THE MOST remarkable aspect of Emma Noble's wedding pictures was the sight of James Major standing upright, unsupported by anyone, fully dressed, not grimacing wildly

at the camera and even managing a smile. Keep it up, James.

(Sue Carroll)