Once hide-bound by tradition, royal families around the world are relaxing age-old strictures and allowing members to marry for love
It’s the fairytale cliché. The prince or princess falls for a penniless commoner, love conquers all and they live happily ever after. But it turns out the stories we learned at our mother’s knee were light years ahead of reality. In the past few decades, royal heirs and heiresses have been granted permission to choose their own mate; prior to that, crown marriages were powerful bonds based on allegiances, money and a palace-load of plotting.
As the role played by royalty has evolved to fit with modern society, members of the younger generation have been able to marry partners without centuries of lineage attached to their names—albeit with a few terms and conditions attached. Nowadays, royals everywhere are trying to find that perfect balance between fulfilling their personal needs and their duty to their country.
Princess Mako, Japan
Nowhere is the battle between duty and emotion clearer than in Japan, where Princess Mako, the granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, was forced to forfeit her royal status this September after announcing her engagement to university classmate Kei Komuro. Under Japanese law, female members of the imperial family must give up their royal rights if they marry a commoner.
That this does not apply to male heirs has long been a source of controversy, particularly since the royal family now comprises only 19 people, 14 of whom are women.
The punishing of women for making a love marriage feels like a relic of the past, but prior to 1947, female members of the imperial family were not stripped of their royal status if they married a commoner. Perhaps the day will come again when Japanese princesses are allowed as much freedom to marry as their brothers.
Queen Rania, Jordan
One of the most notable royal weddings of the past few decades took place in Jordan, when Queen Rania married King Abdullah in 1993. Born in Kuwait, Rania al-Yassin and her Palestinian family had fled modern-day Israel and were effectively refugees when they arrived in Jordan.
Years later, the marriage of this beautiful, highly educated young woman to the Jordanian king is an important symbol of unity in a country where nearly half the population is made up of Palestinian refugees.
Queen Rania has been a notably popular and inspiring royal. But not all men and women who accept the complicated, privileged and often invasive role of royalty are able to accommodate the reality of their new lives easily.
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Princess Grace, Monaco
European royals are more accustomed to the concept of “marrying out,” even though the word ordinary could never be applied. The most striking, of course, was Grace Kelly, the exquisitely beautiful blonde 26-year-old film star who broke Alfred Hitchcock’s heart in 1956 when she gave up her stellar career to marry a real-life Prince Charming, Prince Rainier of Monaco.
From her dress—which took six weeks to make and was created from 125-year-old vintage Brussels lace, tulle and silk taffeta—to the vintage Rolls-Royce that bore the couple around the streets of Monaco, the day that screen royalty wed actual royalty felt like a Disney finale brought to life.
Since then, European royals have married television presenters, bankers, journalists, comedians and fashion designers in their quest to find happiness—or even South African Olympic swimmers, in the case of Princess Grace’s son, Albert, and his wife, Charlene.