20 Regular People Who Became Royals – And How They Really Went From Rags To Riches

There used to be a time when it was expected that royals would only marry other royals, or at least aristocrats who were high up in society. And these weren’t marriages done for love, but rather for political alliances. Luckily, times have changed. These 20 relatively normal people all romanced royals and then became one themselves.

20. Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway

Before the year 2000, Mette-Marit must have seemed like a very unlikely choice to be a princess of Norway. Not only was she a commoner, but she was a single mother whose child’s father was a felon. However, Crown Prince Haakon fell in love with her, and despite a lot of controversy he made her his wife.

Parts of the Norwegian media expressed their horror, but nonetheless come 2001 the marriage still took place. If some people were rooting for it to fail, they ended up disappointed. Mette-Marit and Haakon are still together two decades down the line and had more children to join Mette-Marit’s first son Marius.

19. Queen ’Masenate Mohato Seeiso

When ’Masenate Mohato Seeiso, a woman born as Anna Karabo Motšoeneng, wed King Letsie III of Lesotho, it made history. She was the first commoner to marry into the royal family for a very long time. When the two married in the national stadium, a crowd of more than 40,000 people turned up to watch.

The marriage between the two was seen as an important step forward for the country. And it still stands today. In 2014 ’Masenate Mohato Seeiso spoke lovingly of her husband to the Lesotho Times, saying, “His Majesty is a very reserved, respectful, patient, wise and humble person, and he is all that in a very sweet way.”

18. Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece

Marie-Chantal Miller was well off when she first met Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, but she was still a commoner. That didn’t affect Pavlos, though. In 2008 he told Vanity Fair, “I’m not the kind of person who had girlfriends and then had little affairs on the side. I always had a girlfriend and moved on and went to another one. But the moment I saw Marie-Chantal, I said, ‘Well, this is what I’ve been looking for.’”

Pavlos proposed to Marie-Chantal in a reasonably normal way, for a prince – he asked her to marry him while both were on a ski lift in Switzerland. The marriage took place in London in July 1995 with the blessing of the king and queen. The happy couple ended up having five children together between 1996 and 2008.

17. Empress Michiko

When Michiko Shōda married Emperor Akihito, she became not only the first commoner but the first Roman Catholic to marry into the Imperial Family of Japan. As the couple had met while playing tennis, the Japanese media referred to their story as “the romance of the tennis court” or sometimes “a fairytale.”

The pair are considered to have made the Imperial Family more modern and down-to-earth. Michiko was always very popular among her people, and further afield she was thought to be one of the most stylish women in the world. And when her husband abdicated the throne in 2019 she gained a new title: Empress Emerita.

16. Princess Sofia, Duchess of Värmland

Before Princess Sofia was a member of the Swedish royal family she was glamor model Sofia Hellqvist. And there were some truly scandalous photographs of her floating around. She was a favorite of the men’s magazine Slitz, and she was one of the stars of reality television competition Paradise Hotel.

When the Swedish Royal Court confirmed in July 2010 that Hellqvist was dating Prince Carl Philip, magazines republished the Slitz photos of her. But all that is behind Princess Sofia now. She wed the prince in 2015, and they have two children together. The eldest, Prince Alexander, will take the crown one day.

15. Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark

When Mary Donaldson met a nice man called “Fred” in an inn during the 2000 Summer Olympics she had no idea he was really Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark. But the two had an instant connection. Later on – Mary having learned his real identity by then – the pair began dating. In 2003 Queen Margrethe II gave permission for them to marry.

Reportedly, the romance had begun when Mary and Frederik had started discussing male chest hair among their friends at the inn. That may not have been the stuff of fairytales, but the wedding itself was, and the Danish media described it as such. Many years later, the couple have four children together.

14. Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland

Here’s a fairytale with a modern twist: Prince Daniel of Sweden was originally the personal trainer of Crown Princess Victoria. She fell for him, and they became engaged. During a press conference in 2009 to announce the engagement, Victoria said “Daniel and I had a great and well-founded friendship. It was a friendship that grew and turned into love.”

According to a journalist named Johan T. Lindwall, apparently the king and queen of Sweden didn’t believe the relationship would be successful, even though the king himself had married a commoner. But if that story was accurate, the two of them were wrong. Daniel and Victoria are still married and have two children now.

13. Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark

The story of Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana is quite a complicated one. King Constantine II, Nikolas’s father, was deposed in 1973 and went to Britain to raise his family. The royals were however allowed to keep their titles, even though they had no power. So when Tatiana Blatnik married Prince Nikolaos in 2010, she became a princess.

After the wedding Tatiana told the media that she didn’t consider herself to have actually married into royalty, because of the situation. However, she does try and use the privileges she does have for some good. She and Nikolaos moved back to Greece in 2013 and set about doing charity work for the people there.

12. Queen Suthida

Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana, born Suthida Tidjai, had an interesting journey towards queenhood. For a while, she was a flight attendant on JALways Airlines and Thai Airways. Then she had a change of career and became head of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn’s guard. After the prince divorced, rumor spread that Suthida was his new girlfriend.

The pair were spotted together in clips that ended up going viral around Thailand. And of course the rumors were correct, even though the palace never actually confirmed them. In May 2019, Suthida was named the queen consort of King Vajiralongkorn, his fourth wife in all, and they had a marriage ceremony in which sacred water was poured on the new bride’s head.

11. Princess Lilian of Sweden

Princess Lilian of Sweden had a tremendous rags-to-riches story. She was born in a slum in 1915 and spent her childhood working in markets and laundries before heading to London. As she grew older, she used her good looks to her advantage and became a model. And while at a nightclub, she caught the eye of Prince Bertil of Sweden.

Bertil and Lilian began a relationship, but they had to keep it secret, as the royal family wouldn’t have accepted the match. Or so they thought. In 1973 the King of Sweden passed away, and finally, after a lifetime of waiting, the couple were able to marry. When they tied the knot, Lilian was 61 and Bertil 64.

10. Empress Masako

Masako Owada was an accomplished woman before she encountered any royals. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, spoke six languages and worked as a diplomat. But she was still a commoner, and probably would have remained one if she had never run into Naruhito, the Crown Prince of Japan.

Naruhito fell for Masako almost immediately, and eventually she agreed to marry him, despite knowing it would mean press intrusion for the rest of her life. In 1993 she became only the third commoner to marry into the Imperial Family. And when Naruhito was made emperor in 2019, she became empress.

9. Queen Letizia of Spain

Letizia Ortiz was a news anchor – and a divorcée – when it was announced that she was shortly to marry Prince Felipe, heir to the throne of Spain. The citizens were surprised, as the relationship had been very much kept under wraps. But some people objected, citing Letizia’s past divorce and rumors that she’d once had an abortion.

Yet everything worked out nevertheless. Letizia married Felipe in 2004, having been given permission by the Catholic Church to have a religious ceremony as her past marriage had been a civil one. And ten years later she became the queen of Spain, the first ever one to have started life as a commoner.

8. Princess Marie of Denmark

Parisian Marie Cavallier lived a pretty ordinary life at first. She was the only child of parents who eventually divorced, which shook up her relationship with her family. But as an adult she embarked on a career in advertising, which led her to meet Prince Joachim of Denmark. He was married at the time, to Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg.

However, there’s no indication that Marie was the cause of Prince Joachim splitting from his first wife. He didn’t actually start dating her until the divorce had gone through. Upon marrying the prince Marie became Princess Marie and Countess of Monpezat, and now she’s a mother of two. There are rumors of tension with Countess Alexandra, but you can’t have everything.

7. Kei Moriya

Princess Ayako of Japan gave up everything for love. She began a relationship with Kei Moriya, a commoner introduced to her by her mother, but it could only end one way. Female members of the Imperial Family are required to lose their royal title should they wish to marry a commoner.

Yet Ayako didn’t give any indication at the 2018 wedding ceremony that she was saddened, and the crowds who turned up also treated it as a joyous occasion. One friend of the groom told The Japan Times, “I’m delighted at this happy occasion. Moriya looked cool, as he usually does. I hope they will make a wonderful couple.”

6. Queen Sonja of Norway

The story of the romance between Sonja Haraldsen and Crown Prince Harald of Norway sounds like it could be straight out of a movie. The young woman met the future king at a party in 1959 and for nine years they were boyfriend and girlfriend. But Harald’s father, King Olav V, didn’t want his son to marry a commoner.

Eventually, Harald confronted his father and made it clear that either he would marry Sonja, or he would never marry anyone. As he was the only heir, this would have spelled the end of the whole royal family, so Harald was finally allowed to go ahead. He and Sonja wed in August 1968, and they went on to have two children.

5. Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly was a famous movie star by the time she met Prince Rainier III at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. She had appeared in movies including High Society, Dial M for Murder and Rear Window. And interestingly, it was her family rather than his who disapproved of the marriage. Although Kelly’s family was rich, they objected to having to pay a dowry.

There were other trials to come – Kelly reportedly had to take a fertility test before the marriage. But despite everything it went ahead. The couple had many years of happiness together, but Kelly tragically died in a car accident come 1982, the result of a stroke at the wheel. When Rainer passed away in 2005, he was buried next to her.

4. Queen Silvia of Sweden

The marriage between Silvia Renate Sommerlath and Prince Carl Gustaf of Sweden might never have happened if one person had had their way. When Carl first began seeing the woman he loved, his father King Gustaf VI Adolf had a rule in place that if a prince wished to marry a commoner, he had to renounce his right to the throne.

So Silvia and Carl simply waited it out. Eventually, his father passed away, and Carl became king himself, freeing him up to marry whoever he wanted. He married Silvia in June 1976, the first marriage of a Swedish monarch for centuries. Fun fact for history fans: Abba’s “Dancing Queen” was performed for the first time the day before the wedding, as a tribute to Silvia.

3. Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton came from a wealthy family – but that wasn’t enough for some people when she first began dating Prince William. Reportedly, William’s friends would whisper “doors to manual” whenever she entered a room, poking fun at her parents having once been flight attendant. She was considered “middle class,” no higher.

However, Kate proved all her naysayers wrong when, after years of being on and off with Prince William, the pair finally got engaged. They married on April 29, 2011, with millions tuning in to the ceremony. Kate’s now the mother of three children – Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and the child who might one day be heir to the throne, Prince George.

2. Queen Rania of Jordan

Queen Rania of Jordan is arguably one of the most accomplished royal women in the world, but she began life as a commoner. She worked in marketing and for Apple, having earned a degree in business administration, before she met Prince Abdullah bin Al-Hussein at a dinner party in 1992.

The prince was immediately taken with her, and in fact he proposed to her mere months after they had met for the first time. They married in 1993, and in 1999 Abdullah bin Al-Hussein became king. He quickly gave his wife the title of queen, rather than princess consort. Nowadays, Queen Rania is noted for her humanitarian work.

1. Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle was an actress when she met Prince Harry, but she was still a commoner. And she was divorced, which caused people to claim she wasn’t an appropriate match for the prince. Perhaps worst of all, though, even her friends warned her that she might become a target for the British media if she married him.

Of course, Meghan married Harry anyway and had two children with him. But in January 2020, she and Harry announced they would be stepping down as working members of the royal family and moving away from Britain. At the moment, Meghan’s story stands as a testament to the fact that royal life can be hard, even if her marriage seems as strong as ever.