Brosnan marries in secret ceremony

Brosnan and his bride met in Mexico in 1994

Irish-born James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan has married television reporter Keely Shaye Smith in a secret ceremony in Ireland.

The pair wed on Saturday at Ballintubber Abbey in Co Mayo in the west of Ireland.

But the nuptials took place amid tight security, as the couple have signed an exclusive deal with Hello! magazine for coverage of the event.

A massive security operation was mounted

As the finishing touches to preparations for the ceremony were being made Friday, security guards patrolled the area in a bid to keep reporters out.

On Saturday, Brosnan arrived in the village of Ballintubber in a car with 00MO7 number plates, while his bride travelled in a white Rolls Royce.

But white sheets were thrown over the cars as they pulled up at the abbey to deny photographers access to the couple.

The abbey was originally built in 1216. It was destroyed by Cromwell's soldiers and later rebuilt.

The wedding ceremony was conducted by Brosnan's friend, Monsignor John Fleming, Limerick priest and rector of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome.

Castle celebrations

As the newlyweds left the abbey, the rolled their car windows down to wave to the crowd which had gathered to catch a glimpse of them.

They then headed for a reception at the 13th Century Ashford Castle Hotel in the small village of Cong, about 28 miles from Galway City.

Brosnan, who was born in Navan, County Meath, just north of Dublin, told Hello!: "I want the world to know I love this woman. I don't know any better way than saying 'Be my wife' and standing up there in the eyes of God. It's old fashioned but pretty wonderful."

Phil Hall, Hello! editor, told Ireland's RTE state radio: "They have created this incredible secret garden within the grounds of the castle and it is bedecked in flowers they chose themselves from Amsterdam."

The media set up alongside Balintubber abbey

Brosnan moved to the UK at an early age, but was enthusiastically welcomed back to his birth town when he received the freedom of the city.

The actor's first wife Cassandra died in 1990 from ovarian cancer, leaving him to care for their son Sean and her children, Charlotte and Christopher, from an earlier marriage.

Brosnan, 49, met 36-year-old American Keely Shaye Smith when she interviewed him in Mexico in 1994.

The couple have two children together, Dylan and Paris, who was born in February.

Their wedding was to have taken place last year but was postponed after Brosnan's son Sean suffered spinal injuries in an accident.