Celebrities including Madonna, Chrissie Hynde and Sharleen Spiteri remained tightlipped about the apparent wedding of designer Stella McCartney and publisher Alasdhair Willis as they left this remote Scottish island Sunday.
Pretenders singer Hynde would only say that the 31-year-old daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney looked “beautiful” when asked about the ceremony.
“It was good. It has been a lovely week,” said Spiteri of the rock band Texas, as she boarded a coach to leave the island.
Hordes of reporters, who have spent days trying to glean information about the closely guarded wedding, were left disappointed when both singers declined to comment on McCartney’s dress.
There was no official confirmation that McCartney had married Willis, also 31, on Saturday at Mount Stuart, a Victorian gothic mansion on Bute, off Scotland’s west coast. The house and its 300-acre estate are owned by McCartney family friend Johnny Dumfries, the seventh Marquis of Bute.
The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that the newly married couple were driven away from the ceremony in a carriage drawn by two Clydesdale horses.
The News of the World tabloid carried what appeared to be an aerial photograph of the mansion, with the letters ‘S’ and ‘A’ spelled out in flowers on the ground.
Dozens of celebrities, including Paul McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Gucci boss Tom Ford were spotted on the island.
Security was tight, with residents reporting they had been given passes to get to their homes.
Madonna remained in a Range Rover with blacked out windows during the ferry crossing back to the mainland, while her husband Guy Ritchie strolled around on deck.
Gavin Nielson, 18, said the celebrity couple said nothing about the wedding when he was briefly introduced to them by his father, who is the local harbor master.
“They looked a bit tired. Madonna was wearing a knitted jumper and a black beret tilted to one side, and she smiled at me,” he said. “She didn’t say anything about the wedding. I suppose I was a little bit star-struck.”
