Royal Couples You Might Not Know About
Published on April 10, 2018. Updated June 4, 2020Prince William and Duchess Kate have received a lot of attention for their relatable romance. They met in university and were married in April 2011. Now Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been married since May 2018. There are a lot of other royal couples though – but they don’t get the same amount of attention even though their romances are equally as sweet as the British royal couples. Here are 15 royal couples that you didn’t know about:
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15. Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark
Prince Joachim first met his wife Princess Marie of Denmark at a dinner party when he was married to his first wife Alexandra Manley, Countess of Frederiksborg. While they initially enjoyed talking with one another (they were the only two people at the party who spoke French), they didn’t begin dating until his marriage was over. The couple was married in May 2007 and have had two children since: Prince Henrik Carl Joachim Alain, who was born in 2009, and Princess Athena Marguerite Françoise Marie, who was born in 2012. While Marie was initially hesitant to get involved with a Prince because she liked being self-sufficient, by the time he proposed in 2007, she had decided that it was worth it. Now she calls Joachim her “soulmate.”
Scanpix14. Prince Pierre Casiraghi of Monaco and Beatrice Borromeo
Prince Pierre Casiraghi – brother of Prince Andrea Casiraghi – is seventh in line to the Monegasque throne. His mother is Caroline, Princess of Hanover, and his father is Stefano Casiraghi. He’s married to aristocratic journalist Beatrice Borromeo, who he has been with since 2008. They met at Milan’s Bocconi University where he was studying International Business and she was studying Law. These two – who are known for breaking royal conventions with their handholding and PDA – have one child, a son named Stefano Ercole Carlo, as well as another one on the way.
Abaca Press13. King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan
King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan met at a dinner party back in January 1993 and it was love at first sight – at least for him! She was a bit warier, but that didn’t stop a romance from blossoming. They were engaged just two months later and were married in June 1993, less than six months after meeting. These two work hard at remaining as grounded as possible. “We make sure to go to restaurants or go catch a movie somewhere, drive our own cars,” Rania told People. She also makes sure to pick up her children from school – but always with a security detail trailing her!
Abaca Press12. Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O’Neill
Princess Madeleine of Sweden has been married to British-born American financier Christopher O’Neill since June 2013. Together they have three children, Princess Leonore (born 2014), Prince Nicolas (born 2015), and Princess Adrienne (born 2018), and they are madly in love. O’Neill gushed about his wife to the Swedish magazine King, “I’ve met the woman of my life, the woman I love. But it is clear that it has its challenging sides to be married to a princess. Of course, it has complicated my life, for obvious reasons.”
TT NEWS AGENCY11. Prince Haakon and Princess of Mette-Marit of Norway
When Prince Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, announced that he was going to be marrying a commoner and single mother Metter-Marit Tjessem Høiby in December 2000, many Norwegians initially felt that she was an unsuitable romantic choice for the Prince because of her wild past. She had attended raves, took drugs, worked as a waitress, and was involved with a man who was convicted of violence, drunk driving, and cocaine possession prior to her involvement with Haakon. The couple proved everyone wrong though. Since marrying in August 2001, the couple has produced two heirs, Princess Ingrid Alexandra (born 2004) and Prince Sverre Magnus (born December 2005), and their marriage has proven to be anything but controversial!
NTB scanpix10. Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank
Princess Eugenie – daughter of British Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York – is engaged to Jack Brooksbank, descendant of the aristocratic Brooksbank baronets. The couple met back in 2010 on a skiing trip in a Switzerland and he proposed to the Princess over the holidays while they were on vacation in Nicaragua. The couple is set to marry on October 12, 2018, at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Press Association9. Prince Felix and Princess Claire of Luxembourg
Prince Felix of Luxembourg, who is second in line to the throne, met his wife Claire Lademacher at a private boarding school in Switzerland, Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil. The couple announced their engagement in December 2012 and were married in a civil ceremony in Königstein im Taunus, Germany, Claire’s homeland, in September 2013 and then a religious ceremony at the Sainte Marie-Madeleine Basilica in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, France. They have two young children together, Prince Liam and Princess Amalia, but they’re not like other royal couples. The couple manages her family’s winery in the South of France, and she has worked at Vogue and is a bioethics researcher with a Master’s Degree in Bioethics from the University Regina Apostolorum in Rome.
Abaca Press8. Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco
The reigning monarch of the Principality of Monaco, Prince Albert II, was the quintessential bachelor before he finally settled down with former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, having had two children out of wedlock. The couple was married in July 2011 in an extravagant ceremony in Monaco and in December 2014 welcomed their twins, Gabriella Thérèse Marie and Jacques Honoré Rainier, into the world. Although there were rumors of marital strife between these two, they are still going strong after almost seven years of marriage.
EPA7. Prince Frederik and Princess Mary of Denmark
This royal couple’s relationship began at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Australia and, even though she was living in Australia at the time and he was living in Denmark, they began a long distance relationship. In 2001, Mary moved to Denmark to be with Prince Frederik and in October 2003 the couple officially became engaged. They were married in Copenhagen on May 1, 2004 and have since had two children together: Prince Christian, who was born in 2005, Prince Isabella, who was born in 2007, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, who were born in 2011. These two are known as one of the world’s most loved-up royal couples. They seem to be happier than ever after all these years!
Abaca Press6. Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece
Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, was one of the first royals of his generation to marry a commoner. Mary-Chantal is a British-born, duty-free-shopping heiress. The two met on a blind date in 1992 at a Niarchos-family birthday party and, according to Marie-Chantal, it was love at first sight. In 1994, he proposed to her on a ski lift in Gstaad and six months later they were married in July 1995 at Sophia’s Cathedral, London. Their union has produced five children: Princess Maria-Olympia, Prince Constantine-Alexios, Prince Achileas-Andreas, Prince Odysseus-Kimon, and Prince Aristidis-Stavros. The couple currently lives in London with their family.
EPA5. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan
Jetsun Pema is the youngest Queen in history. She married King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan in October 2011 when she was only 21 years old. Their wedding was Bhutan’s largest media event in history, and their marriage has produced one son, The Gyalsey. The King and Queen have been given the nickname “Will and Kate of The Himalayas” because of their sweet romance. They’ve bucked tradition by having lived together before marriage and by engaging in public displays of affection.
Abaca Press4. Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden
Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel are one of Europe’s most high profile royal couples. The couple met in 2001 when he became her personal trainer and began dating in 2002. They were married in June 2010 in front of more than 1,200 guests at Stockholm Cathedral. Victoria is heir apparent to the Swedish throne, but once she becomes Sweden’s queen, her husband won’t become king. These are definitely a modern royal couple. When the couple had their first child, Princess Estelle, Daniel took paternity leave!
Abaca Press3. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain
Felipe VI, King of Spain, has been married to his wife Queen Letizia of Spain for almost 15 years. They met back in 2002 after Felipe asked a mutual friend to set up a dinner so that he could meet her. At the time, she was working as a journalist for Televisión Española. They began secretly dating a few months after meeting, were engaged in November 2003, and married in May 2004. The couple has two daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía.
Abaca Press2. Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden
Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and former reality star model Sofia Hellqvist have been together since 2010. They moved in together in 2011, were engaged in 2014, and were married in June 2015. Together they have two sons, Prince Alexander, who was born in April 2016, and Prince Gabriel, who was born in August 2017. While the press was initially skeptical of the couple’s relationship because of Hellqvist’s stint on the reality show Paradise Hotel, where she competed against other women to see who could stay in the luxury hotel the longest, their attitudes towards her have softened over the years as many feel that she’s not in this relationship for fame and fortune.
Abaca Press1. Prince Andrea Casiraghi of Monaco and Tatiana Santo Domingo
Prince Andrea Casiraghi of Monaco is the son of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, and Stefano Casiraghi, as well as the grandchild of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and actress Grace Kelly, and is fourth in line to the Monegasque throne. He’s married to Colombian-Brazilian heiress Tatiana Santo Domingo. They have been together since 2005 and are a bit unconventional. They welcomed their first son, Alexandre Andrea Stefano, into the world in March 2013, before they were married. It was only in August 2013 that they finally tied the knot in a civil ceremony. In April 2015, the couple had a second child, a daughter named India, and in 2017 they confirmed that they were expecting their third child.
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