It’s almost impossible not to feel interested in the lives of the royal families. Sure, they might not live their daily lives exactly as we imagine, and they might not be as romantic as they’re portrayed in the movies and on television. But it still seems like the members of the royal family are in some sort of fairy-tale bubble that we’ll never be able to break through. And it only becomes even more exciting when a royal couple first gets together — especially if one of them happens to be a commoner. You basically get to watch a regular person become a prince or a princess, and maybe even eventually a king or queen, which is exciting even from the sidelines. But what are the real stories behind how each royal couple met?
Today’s royal couples have come a long way from the royal couples of the past, most of whom didn’t really meet one another in the traditional dating sense. Back in the day, they were typically set up by family members, or through arrangements that had been made when they were children. So, it’s definitely interesting to see how different things are now.
Here’s a look at how some of today’s most notable royal couples met, fell in love, and became the media sensations we know and love.
1. Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
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Prince William and Kate Middleton met in the most typical way possible: when they were in school.
The royal couple met in 2001 when they were both attending the University of St. Andrews and studying art history. Kate later said she felt very shy when they first met, but they ended up being really good friends. They didn’t start dating until 2003, and didn’t get engaged until 2010, when William finally proposed during a trip to Kenya.
2. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
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How cute is this? Prince Harry and Meghan Markle actually met on a blind date.
They were set up by a mutual friend, London-based Ralph Lauren PR director Violet von Westenholz. Westenholz’s father is a baron and a good friend of Prince Charles, and she was a close friend of Harry’s for years. After meeting Meghan, Westenholz thought they would be a good match, so she set them up. That fateful date happened in 2016, and it wasn’t long after that they got engaged, Harry popping the question in the comfort of their own home.
3. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall
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This story is a bit more scandalous.
The first meeting between Charles and Camilla was innocent enough: they were introduced to one another at a mutual friend’s party in 1971 by Charles’s college girlfriend. PopSugar reports that the two started talking and quickly realized they had a lot in common. Camilla even made a joke about her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, having an affair with King Edward VIII, saying, “My great-grandmother was the mistress of your great-great-grandfather. I feel we have something in common.”
Although they started dating right away, things ended when Charles left for the Royal Navy.
When he returned months later, he found that Camilla was engaged to Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles, who she ended up marrying. Charles married Diana, but there are rumors that he had an affair with Camilla during that marriage, which is why he divorced Diana. Charles and Camilla kept dating after Diana’s death, and got married in 2005.
4. Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the Prince and Princess of Wales
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Charles first met Diana after he had already met his current wife Camilla.
Strangely enough, they met because Charles was dating Diana’s sister. Yes, it’s true: Charles was first dating her sister, Sarah, and that’s how the two ended up together (Diana had been raised on the queen’s Norfolk estate and had grown up with the royal family). At the time, Diana was 16 and Charles was 28, and friends reportedly said that Diana believed she would marry him one day.
They didn’t start dating until two years later, but Diana supposedly said dating him was difficult because he “wasn’t consistent.” They ended up getting engaged in 1981, after only seeing each other 12 times. Charles was still in love with Camilla when he proposed, probably because of pressure from his family to get married.
5. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Queen Elizabeth and Philip’s meeting was far more traditional.
They met in 1934 when they were kids (Elizabeth was 8 and Philip was 13), at the wedding of Princess Marina of Greece and the Duke of Kent. And, yes, they are kind of related: Marina was Philip’s cousin, and the Duke of Kent was Elizabeth’s uncle.
They officially met in 1939 when Elizabeth went to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth with her father, King George VI. Although Elizabeth reportedly fell for him there (she was 13), they didn’t get together until a little while later, after writing letters to each other on a consistent basis. They announced their engagement in 1947.
6. Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank
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The recently married couple met in 2010 at Verbier, a holiday resort and ski area in Switzerland. At the time, Eugenie was 20 and Jack was 24. It was later revealed that they were distant cousins (something that clearly isn’t a problem for royal families). They made their first appearance as a couple in 2011.
7. Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco
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Before American actress Meghan Markle married a royal, there was Grace Kelly – another American actress who became a princess. She met Prince Rainier III at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, where she was promoting the film To Catch a Thief. She did a photo op with him for Paris Match magazine, and he was so impressed by her that he sent her a sweet letter afterward. By 1965, they were engaged.
8. Princess Anne and Mark Phillips
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Princess Anne, the younger sister of Prince Charles, met captain Mark Phillips in 1972, when they were both competing in a championship equestrian match at the 1972 Olympics in Munich The couple hit it off instantly and got married just a year later.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out, and they eventually separated.
9. Edward, Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson
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This is another scandalous love story that was actually a huge deal in the royal family.
Edward was supposed to be the future king of England… until he met Wallis Simpson. At the time, Wallis was a divorcee. She had been married to Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. but they got divorced after she had affairs with an Argentinian diplomat and Mussolini’s future son-in-law. This was a huge no-no in the royal family.
They met in 1931, when Wallis was actually friends with Edward’s mistress, Lady Furness. In 1931, when Lady Furness went out of town, Edward and Wallis ended up getting together. Because of her status as a non-royal divorcee, Edward ended up abdicating the throne in order to marry her…even though she was still married to her second husband at the time.
10. Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
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Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson had known each other since they were young, as Sarah had been a childhood friend of Princess Diana. In 1981, Diana invited Sarah to her wedding, and the soon-to-be couple became really close. In 1985, Sarah went to an event at Windsor Castle with Diana, and that’s where she met Andrew as an adult. Diana was a big supporter of their relationship, and they ended up getting engaged less than a year later.
11. Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex
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Prince Edward and Countess Sophie met for the first time in 1987 when she worked at Capital Radio as a press officer – he was actually dating one of her friends. In 1993, they met again at a charity tennis match. Six years later, in 1999, he proposed, and a few months later, they were married.
12. Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, Duke and Duchess of Värmland
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Prince Carl Philip didn’t just shake things up by marrying a commoner – he married a reality-television star. Sofia Hellqvist was a model and American reality star when they met during a lunch they were attending with some friends. According to HELLO!, Sofia later said it was “love at first sight.” Clearly, Carl agreed, because they got engaged not long afterward. They were married in 2015 and now have two sons.
13. Prince Frederik and Princess Mary of Denmark
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Prince Frederik was another royal who chose to marry a commoner.
When he met Princess Mary, she was just an average Australian woman. The story is pretty cute: they met in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, when she was an Australian advertising executive. They were both at the Slip Inn, a bar and restaurant in Sydney, when they met and started talking. And, just like a movie, Mary didn’t realize that Frederik (who said his name was “Fred) was a prince during that first night together.
They had a long distance relationship between Australia and Denmark until 2003. At this point Queen Margrethe announced the relationship in public for the first time.
14. Prince Christian of Hanover and Alessandra de Osma
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Another cute meeting story is Prince Christian and Alessandra de Osma.
The two first met in 2005 in Lima, Peru, when she was his tour guide during his visit to the city. But they didn’t actually begin dating until 2014, although it’s unclear how that happened. The two got engaged in 2017 and got married in a civil ceremony in London that same year.
15. Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
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Princess Mette-Marit, once known as Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby, has a controversial past (as she has admitted to using drugs in the past), but that didn’t stop Prince Haakon from marrying her. The couple met at Quart Festival, which is the largest music festival in Norway. They started dating a few years later, and got married after living together for just a year.
16. Prince Rahim Aga Khan and Princess Salwa Aga Khan, AKA Kendra Spears
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Kendra Spears was an American supermodel before she met Prince Rahim Aga Khan, the oldest son of the Aga Khan IV, when she was 26 years old. They were actually introduced to each other by Naomi Campbell, and only dated for four months before they got engaged. They got married in 2013.
17. Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall
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Zara Phillips (the queen’s granddaughter) met rugby player Mike Tindall in 2003 at the Manly Wharf Bar in Sydney, Australia, during the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The two later said they were introduced that night and didn’t talk that much. But Zara did have a friend give her number to him, asking him to text her. He did, they started dating, and they became an official couple in 2004. They dated for eight years before getting married in 2011.
18. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Jetsun Pema
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Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is the king of Bhutan, a small country in South Asia, and ended up marrying a non-royal by the name of Jetsun Pema. The two met when she was 7 years old and he was 17 years old at a family picnic. He supposedly told her that if they were both still single when they got older, they would get married. In October 2011, they did just that.
19. Diane von Fürstenberg and Prince Egon von Fürstenberg
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Before she was fashion royalty, Diane von Fürstenberg married actual royalty.
She and the prince met at a birthday party in Geneva. She told Over The Moon, “He was handsome and blonde and a prince, yes, and he had this great smile, but I wasn’t particularly interested at first. There were plenty of other young, good looking men around and he was still in school at Lausanne.”
Eventually, the two ran into each other again, and things became romantic during a ski trip they were on in Megeve. Apparently, their car got stuck in the snow, and Egon came to help. She said she loved how he protected her, and they fell in love.
