[susan alicia]

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The lavish wedding was held at Copenhagen's Lutheran cathedral

The Danish royal family overspent by 17m kroner ($3m) in 2004, its first annual financial report has revealed.

The 59m kroner Europe's oldest monarchy received from the taxpayer to run their household with 125 staff was insufficient to meet last year's costs.

The family was in the red mainly due to the cost of Crown Prince Frederik's wedding and Queen Margrethe's purchase of a new car, the report indicated.

However, it did not offer any detailed breakdown of the expenditures.

"Most of the amount can be traced to the celebration of the crown prince's wedding in May 2004," the report said.

In addition to the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik to Australian commoner Mary Donaldson, who became Crown Princess Mary, the document put the overspend down to extensive renovations to the newlyweds' palace. It also revealed that the royal house was worth 12.8bn kroner ($2.2bn). Denmark's monarchy was founded by the Viking King Gorm the Old in the 10th century.