He gave Margaret, her uncle Jim Perry and wedding assistant Allen Carl a lift to the castle in his Lexus LS400.

Margaret said: "I think Richard should be very proud for rescuing a damsel in distress. The age of chivalry is certainly not dead!"

She began to panic when just a few miles into the journey the car conked out.

She said: "I knew I would get there by some means but the means came more quickly than anticipated when Richard offered us a lift. Richard was definitely my knight in shining armour.

"The whole thing really added to the day. It's been everything I had hoped for and more. How many brides can say they were rescued on their wedding day by a press photographer?"

Richard said: "I could see a white limo and a group of people in medieval costume so I thought I'd better stop.

"They told me they had a flat tyre and they had to be at Castell Coch by 1pm but it was 12.40pm already. We bombed it down the country lanes and I got them there for 1.07pm. I was only sorry I didn't have a horse really!

"It was quite a surreal day. A day I'm sure they'll never to forget."