9 Everyday People Who Married into Royalty
Following the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged, we look to nine other fairytales of royals falling in love with citizens.
Members of royalty usually marry one another, but the best stories are those princes and princesses who fall in love with everyday people (they recall our favorite fairytales of youth).
The most well-known case these days is Kate Middleton, who met Prince William at school. Most recently, another famous union is that of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, who married Sofia Hellqvist , model and TV star. Contrary to popular belief, Princess Diana was not a commoner when she married Prince Charles because her family already had titles.
Over the years, royalty fell in love with journalists, actresses (hi, Harry and Meghan!) and Olympic athletes. See below for a who's who of commoners turned royalty.
The iconic Hollywood actress became Princess of Monaco when she and Prince Rainier III were married in April 1956. The couple met in a photo shoot (which she almost canceled!). And their wedding was quite an event at the time. Together they had three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and Princess Stephanie. Grace died in 1982 in a car accident.
In 2002, when Queen Leticza met King Felipe VI of Spain, she was a hardworking journalist, covering an oil spill when the then prince was reconnoitering the place. Two years later, in May 2004, they were married and now have two daughters: Princess Leonor and Princess Sofia.
South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock met Prince Albert II of Monaco (son of Grace Kelly) when she was in the country during a competition in 2000. They took over the romance in 2006 during the Winter Olympics and married in July of 2011. Three years later, Princess Charlene gave birth to the twins Jacques and Gabriella.
Tatiana Blatnik, who worked with events for designer Diane von Furstenberg, married Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark in August 2010, becoming Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark. Like Harry and Meghan, they met through a mutual friend in 2003.
Born in Argentina, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands studied economics and worked for a Dutch bank in New York before meeting her husband, King Willem-Alexander at a party in Seville. They were married in February 2002 and the following year he became the country's first king after 123 years when his mother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated the throne. The royal couple have three daughters: Princess Catharina -Amalia, Princess Alexia and Princess Ariane.
Prince Daniel of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland, married Princessa Victoria of Sweden in June 2010. Prior to this, Daniel Westling was a country boy who met the princess at one of the gyms that he had. The two have a daughter, Princess Estelle, who was born in 2012.
Before Queen Rania of Jordan married King Abdullah II, she worked at Apple. The couple formalized the union in March of 1999 and today already has 4 children together. This month, the modern and stylish queen shared a cute message on her Instagram account: "22 years and my heart still stops beating ... I feel blessed to be on your side. Happy birthday, Your Majesty." Cute!