25 Royals Who Married Commoners

royal wedding Prince harry Meghan Markle carriage

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published 5 June 2018

Prince Harry and Prince William are not the first royals to have broken with tradition and chosen someone not from an established royal family to be their life-partner. Let's look back to these glamorous regular people who lived out a fairytale IRL.

Anita Stewart and Prince Miguel of Braganza, 1909

Anita Stewart was an American socialite and heiress who married Prince Miguel of Braganza, a Portuguese royal, in September 1909.

Nonie May Stewart Worthington Leeds and Prince Christopher of Greece, 1920

Nonie May Stewart Worthington Leeds was an American heiress and a 42-year-old, twice-married widow when she wed Prince Christopher of Greece in February 1920, becoming Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark.

Wallis Warfield Simpson and Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, 1937

Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American socialite, met Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII until his abdication) through his mistress. The two were eventually married in June 1937, six months after he had given up his crown to his brother, King George VI.

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari and Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, 1951

Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari met Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran through relatives while studying English in London. They married on February 12, 1951.

Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, 1956

Grace Kelly was living her best life as a Hollywood actress when she met Prince Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, at a shoot that she initially didn't want to go to! Of course fate has it's way of bringing people together and they married in April 1956.

Caroline Lee Bouvier Canfield and Prince Stanislas Radziwill of Poland, 1959

Caroline Lee Bouvier Canfield (a.k.a. Lee Radziwill) is the sister of Jacqueline Kennedy. She is a PR exec (and former interior designer) who married Prince Stanislas Radziwill of Poland on March 19, 1959, but their marriage ended in divorce.

Michiko Shōda Empress of Japan and Crown Prince Akihito, 1959

Michiko Shōda Empress of Japan met Crown Prince Akihito at a tennis match. Prince Akihito had a rocky relationship with his parents at first because of her commoner status. They went on to marry on April 10, 1959.

Hope Cook and Palden Thondup Namgyal, King of Sikkim, 1963

Hope Cook was an American socialite vacationing in India when she met Palden Thondup Namgyal, King of Sikkim (an area in the Himalayas) at the Windamere Hotel's bar in Darjeeling, India. They were married on March 20, 1963.

Lisa Halaby and King Hussein I of Jordan, 1978

Lisa Halaby was working for the Arab Air Services and met King Hussein I of Jordan at the opening of the Queen Alia International Airport in 1977. They married each other on June 15, 1978.

Queen Rania of Jordan and King Abdullah II, 1993

Queen Rania of Jordan was a successful marketing professional for companies like Apple and Citibank. She attended a party held by then-Prince Abdullah II's sister and the rest is history. They married in 1993.

Princess Masako Owada and Prince Naruhito, 1993

Japanese Princess Masako Owada met Prince Naruhito at a reception for Princess Elana of Spain. He tried courting her, but she resisted at first because she is a fierce independent woman, who had a promising career in the Foreign Ministry (which she joined in 1987). However, they couldn't deny the chemistry and married each other on June 9, 1993.

Marie Chantal Miller Greek Princess and Prince Pavlos of Greece, 1995

Marie Chantal Miller Greek Princess was an heiress who worked with Andy Warhol when she was 16 (nbd). She met Prince Pavlos of Greece in the realest commoner way ever...a blind date. She wore her fine navy-blue couture Chanel suit and the two hit it off. They were eventually married on July 1, 1995.

Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby Princess of Norway and Prince Haakon, 2001

Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby Princess of Norway met Prince Haakon at the Quart Festival, Norway's largest rock festival, during a garden party in 1996. Fate brought them together again three years later and they were married on August 25, 2001.

Salma Bennani and King Mohammed VI of Morocco, 2001

Salma Bennani was working as an information services engineer at ONA Group, Morocco's largest private holding company, when at a private party, she met King Mohammed VI of Morocco and sparks flew. They eventually married on October 12, 2001.

Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti and King Willem-Alexander, 2002

Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, an Argentinian woman, met King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands at a party in Seville, Spain, and he flew across the pond three weeks later to meet her again in New York where she was working at Deutsche Bank (she almost forgot what he looked like!). They went on to get married on February 2, 2002.

Mary Elizabeth Donaldson and Prince Frederick of Denmark, 2004

Mary Elizabeth Donaldson had an established career in public relations and was a project consultant for Microsoft Business Solutions (again nbd), when she casually met Prince Frederick of Denmark at a pub in Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics. He originally introduced himself as simply "Fred." They began dating and were married on May 14, 2004.

Queen Letizia of Spain and King Felipe, 2004

Queen Letizia of Spain was a famous journalist covering an oil spill in late 2002 when she re-met the then-Prince of Asturias. (They were initially introduced at a dinner party, but must not have hit it off.) They went on to marry on May 22, 2004.

Marie Agathe Odile Cavallier and Prince Joachim, 2008

Marie Agathe Odile Cavallier was just living her life with an established career in marketing (jobs at Estée Lauder and Reuter's financial news agency Radianz appear on her resume) when sparks flew with Prince Joachim of Denmark at a party held by a mutual friend. They married later in May 2008.

Kelly Jeanne Rondestvedt and Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony, 2009

Kelly Jeanne Rondestvedt was an investment baker with a Bachelors of Arts and MBA from UCLA living a great life in New York City when she caught the eye of Hubertus Michael (a.k.a. Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony) while casually dining with some of her girlfriends. They eventually began dating, and he popped the question a year or so later. They married on May 23, 2009 in Coburg, Germany.

Kate Middleton and Prince William, 2011

Fit for a rom-com: Kate Middleton and Prince William crossed paths while attending college at the University of St. Andrews, where they both majored in Art History and lived in the same residence hall. They began dating in 2003 and after a bit of an off-and-on relationship, married each other eight years later on April 29, 2011.

Christopher Thomas and Princess Ruth Komuntale of Uganda, 2012

Princess Ruth Komuntale of Uganda met Christopher Thomas while she was in America studying at a university in Washington D.C.—but he didn't understand how important she was in the Uganda Toro Kingdom. Thomas proposed at a restaurant ironically called Ruth's Chris Streak House. Nonetheless, the royal family accepted him and the two were married on November 17, 2012.

Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip, 2015

Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden conveniently met while eating at the same restaurant in 2010 because the friends they were with knew each other. Before she married into royalty, Sofia Hellqvist was a model for men's magazines and had a role in the reality TV show Paradise Hotel. The two were engaged in June 2014, and married one year later on June 13, 2015 in the Royal Chapel of Stockholm Palace.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, 2018

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, an American actress starring on the show Suits, met by way of a mutual friend who set them up on a blind date in 2016. The two immediately hit it off and kept their long-distance relationship a secret for several months—she lived in Toronto, he in England. Harry popped the question in November 2017 while they were cooking a roast chicken dinner, and they were married on May 19, 2018.

Marie Chevallier and Louis Ducruet, 2018

Louis Ducruet, oldest son of Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, is officially engaged to his college girlfriend Marie Chevallier. The couple met in a class they both took at the Western Carolina University in North Carolina. Chevallier has a degree in marketing and is currently the banqueting and convention coordinator at the Hotel Hermitage in Monaco. A wedding date has yet to be announced.

Princess Mako and Kei Komuro, 2020

Princess Mako, daughter of Prince Akishino and granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, is set to marry Kei Komuro in 2020. The wedding was originally scheduled to take place this November, but due to lack of preparation time, had to be postponed a couple years. The couple reportedly met at during a study-abroad event at a restaurant in Shibuya. When Mako does marry Komuro, she will lose her royal status.