List of royal marriages to commoners explained

Royal marriages to commoners have historically been uncommon, due to traditions of members of royal families, especially high-level ones, only marrying other persons considered to be royalty, sometimes with penalties for royals who married far below their rank, deemed morganatic marriage. Often, alliances could be created between countries or strengthened within a country through intermarriage of two royal families. On the other hand, occasionally a member of a royal family married a commoner simply due to romantic feelings or physical attraction, and possibly to endear themselves to the general population by establishing that sense of connection. This trend has accelerated and become more accepted in modern times.

Some of the individuals in the lists below are members of deposed royal dynasties and not of reigning royal families.

Before Common Era

Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Tiye (14th century BC)
King David and Bathsheba, 11th century BC
King Ahasuerus and Esther, 5th century BC

Early modern

1356: King Casimir III the Great of Poland and Krystyna Rokiczana, widow of a merchant, as his third wife.
January 1557: Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria and Philippine Welser, daughter of a merchant. After her death, he married dynastically to Anna Juliana Gonzaga and fathered Anna of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empress.
4 July 1568: King Eric XIV of Sweden and Karin Månsdotter, daughter of a prison guard. He was deposed within a year.
1698: Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau and Anna Luise Föhse
1707: Tsar Peter the Great of Russia and Marta Skowrońska, who was born a peasant, but ended up succeeding her husband as Catherine I of Russia. They are the ancestors of the Russian Imperial Family.
1794: Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino and Musignano and Christine Boyer
1 August 1794: Prince Joseph Bonaparte and Julie Clary

19th century

24 December 1803: Prince Jérôme Bonaparte and Elizabeth Patterson
3 September 1823: Archduke John of Austria and Anna Plochl, daughter of a postmaster. Their romance was immortalized in the 1929 Austrian film Archduke John
November 1829: Prince Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte and Susan May Williams
28 December 1833 Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen Dowager of Spain, and her bodyguard Agustín Fernando Muñoz.^[1] On 23 June 1844 he was created Duke of Riánsares by her daughter Queen Isabella II of Spain
5 April 1836: Charles Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies, Prince of Capua and Penelope Smyth, at Gretna Green
8 January 1847: Prince George, Duke of Cambridge and actress Sarah Fairbrother, in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772
4 June 1848: Infanta Josefina Fernanda of Spain and writer José Güell y Renté
20 April 1850: Prince Adalbert of Prussia and dancer Therese Elssler
7 August 1850: King Frederick VII of Denmark and dancer/actress Louise Rasmussen as his third wife
1852: Prince Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte and Éléonore-Justine Ruflin
28 May 1859: Duke Ludwig Wilhelm in Bavaria and actress Henriette Mendel
21 August 1860: Duke Ernest of Württemberg and actress/singer Natalie Eischborn
4 February 1868: Archduke Heinrich Anton of Austria and singer Leopoldine Hofmann
14 November 1868: Prince August of Württemberg and Marie Bethge
10 June 1869: King Ferdinand II of Portugal and American actress as his second wife Elise Hensler, created Countess of Elda
18 October 1869: King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Rosa Vercellana as his second wife, daughter of an Officer in the King's Guards
1 September 1875: Prince Charles Joseph Bonaparte and Ellen Channing Day
1880: Prince Roland Bonaparte and Marie-Félix Blanc
1882: Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia and Nadezhda Alexandrovna von Dreyer, daughter of the Orenburg police chief
30 October 1889: Albert I, Prince of Monaco and American Alice Heine as his second wife
1889: Archduke John Salvator of Austria and dancer Ludmilla Stubel. They disappeared the following year off the coast of Cape Horn

20th century

27 January 1903: Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria and prostitute Wilhelmine Adamovicz
25 September 1907: Archduchess Louise of Austria, former Crown Princess of Saxony, and musician Enrico Toselli
15 August 1909: Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria and Bertha Czuber, daughter of a mathematician
9 January 1913: Archduchess Eleonora of Austria and sailor Alfons von Kloss
16 November 1916: Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia and Nikolai Kulikovsky
26 September 1917 Afonso, Duke of Porto (after the 5 October 1910 revolution to overthrow the Portuguese monarchy) and American heiress Nevada Stoody Hayes
1 February 1920: Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark and American heiress Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds
30 January 1921: Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia and Mathilde Kschessinska
24 June 1921: Princess Marie-Louise of Madagascar and André Bossard
23 November 1922: Princess Dagmar of Denmark and Jørgen Castenskjold, son of the Court Chamberlain
11 February 1924: Prince Erik of Denmark and Canadian Lois Booth
10 June 1924: Prince Viggo of Denmark and American Eleanor Margaret Green
7 November 1931: Prince Nicolae of Romania and Ioana Dumitrescu-Doletti
11 March 1932: Prince Lennart of Sweden and Karin Nissvandt
8 March 1934: Prince Sigvard of Sweden and Erica Maria Patzek
3 June 1937: Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) and Wallis Simpson
21 September 1942: Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and Nadine Sylvia Ada McDougall
19 February 1946: Prince Carl Johan of Sweden and journalist Kerstin Wijkmark
24 July 1946: Louis II, Prince of Monaco and actress Ghislaine Dommanget
21 April 1947: Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and British Army major Richard Brandram
12 August 1957: Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and Alžbeta Brezáková
4 February 1948: Prince Oluf of Denmark and Annie Helene Dorrit Puggard-Müller
24 May 1949: Prince Flemming of Denmark and Alice Ruth Nielsen
27 May 1949 Prince Aly Khan and actress Rita Hayworth
4 December 1951: Princess Antoinette of Monaco and tennis champion Alexandre-Athenase Noghès
10 October 1952: Atsuko, Princess Yori of Japan and Takamasa Ikeda
15 May 1953: Princess Ragnhild of Norway and shipowner Erling Lorentzen
18 April 1956: Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and actress Grace Kelly
10 April 1959: Akihito, Crown Prince of Japan and Michiko Shōda
20 December 1959: Emperor Mohammed Reza I of Iran and Farah Diba
3 March 1960: Takako, Princess Suga of Japan and Hisanaga Shimazu
6 May 1960: Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom and photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones^[2]
12 January 1961: Princess Astrid of Norway and Johan Ferner
21 January 1961: Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and Howard Oxenberg
25 May 1961: King Hussein of Jordan and Toni Gardiner
8 June 1961: Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Katharine Worsley
2 December 1961 Princess Antoinette of Monaco and Dr. Jean-Charles Rey
1963: Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid and Margaretha Inga Elisabeth Lind
20 March 1963: Palden Thondup Namgyal, Chogyal (King) of Sikkim and Hope Cooke
30 June 1964: Princess Margaretha of Sweden and John Ambler
7 February 1965: Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark and artist Marina Karella
7 July 1965: Archduke Géza von Habsburg and Monika Decker
16 December 1966: Princess Yasuko of Mikasa (Japan) and Tadateru Konoe
10 January 1967: Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven
1 March 1967 Prince Charles of Luxembourg and American Joan Dillon
13 January 1968: Prince Ingolf of Denmark and Inge Terney
29 August 1968: Harald, Crown Prince of Norway and Sonja Haraldsen
23 September 1969: Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and Neil Balfour
16 November 1969: Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria and Bronisław Tomasz Andrzej Chrobok
1971: Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples and Marina Doria
9 February 1971: Prince Christian of Denmark and Anne Dorte Maltoft-Nielsen
11 September 1971: Prince Philipp of Liechtenstein and Isabelle de l'Arbre de Malander
8 July 1972: Prince Richard of Gloucester and Birgitte van Deurs^[3]
12 October 1972: Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria and physician Carlos Zurita y Delgado
24 December 1972: King Hussein I of Jordan and Alia Toukan
14 November 1973: Princess Anne of the United Kingdom and Mark Phillips^[4]
15 June 1974: Princess Christina of Sweden and Tord Magnuson
28 June 1975: Princess Christina of the Netherlands and Jorge Guillermo
1 October 1975: Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff and Thomas Mathew
25 December 1975: Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah and Haminah binti Hamidun
1976: Julio I, Afro-Bolivian King and Angélica Larrea
19 June 1976: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and interpreter Silvia Sommerlath^[5]
7 December 1976: Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland and model Lilian Davies
15 June 1978: King Hussein I of Jordan and Lisa Halaby
29 June 1978: Princess Caroline of Monaco and property developer Philippe Junot
7 November 1980: Prince Tomohito of Mikasa (Japan) and Nobuko Asō
20 July 1983: Princess Elena of Romania and Robin Medforth-Mills
28 July 1983: Princess Antoinette of Monaco and dancer John Gilpin (dancer)
4 October 1983: Princess Irina of Romania and John Kreuger
14 October 1983: Princess Masako of Mikasa (Japan) and Masayuki Sen
29 December 1983: Princess Caroline of Monaco and Stefano Casiraghi
1 December 1984: Prince Norihito of Mikasa (Japan) and Hisako Tottori
20 September 1985: Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia and Katherine Batis
1986: King Mswati III of Eswatini and Sibonelo Mngometulu
1986: Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran and Yasmine Etemad-Amini
23 July 1986: Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson
1987: Prince Andrew Romanoff and Inez Storer
28 February 1987: Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and Manuel Ulloa Elías
27 May 1987 Prince Jean of Luxembourg and Hélène Suzanna Vestur
5 December 1987: Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia and Sir Desmond de Silva
8 July 1988: Princess Tania of Bourbon-Parma and Gilbert Jacques Marcel Bécaud
1989: Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss and Susan Doukht Jalali
29 June 1990: Fumihito, Prince Aya of Japan and Kiko Kawashima
1991: King Abdullah of Pahang and Julia Rais
1992: Prince Mired bin Ra'ad of Jordan and Dina Mohammad Khalifeh
12 December 1992: Princess Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom and Royal Navy officer Timothy Laurence^[6]
9 June 1993: Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan and diplomat Masako Owada
10 June 1993: Prince Abdullah of Jordan and Rania Al-Yassin
18 September 1993: Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg and Marc Victor Cunningham
29 January 1994: Prince Robert of Luxembourg and Julie Elizabeth Houston Ongaro
February 1994: Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn of Thailand and Sujarinee Vivacharawongse
8 September 1994: Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Sibilla Weiller
1 July 1995: Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece and Marie-Chantal Miller
1 July 1995: Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and bodyguard Daniel Ducruet
4 August 1995: Princess Maria-Pia of Liechtenstein and Max Kothbauer
18 November 1995: Prince Joachim of Denmark and Alexandra Manley
24 July 1996: Princess Margareta of Romania and Radu Duda
4 October 1997: Infanta Cristina of Spain and handball player Iñaki Urdangarin
1998: Prince David Oyelowo of Awe and Jessica Watson
27 June 1998: Princess Alexandra of Greece and Nicolas Mirzayantz
29 August 1998: Princess Sophie of Romania and Alain Michel Biarneix
31 October 1998: Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro and Camilla Crociani
30 April 1999: Prince Heinrich Julius of Hanover and Thyra von Westernhagen
19 June 1999: Prince Edward of the United Kingdom and Sophie Rhys-Jones^[7]
9 July 1999: Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark and Carlos Morales
7 August 1999: Prince Firas bin Ra'ad and Dana Nabil Toukan

21st century

2000: King Mswati III of Eswatini and Senteni Masango
29 January 2000 Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein and Angela Brown
18 February 2000 King Letsie III of Lesotho and 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso
5 July 2000: Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad and Sarah Antonia Butler
10 February 2001: Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn of Thailand and Srirasmi Suwadee
19 May 2001: Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands and Petra Laurentien Brinkhorst
25 August 2001: Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway and Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby
12 October 2001: King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Salma Bennani
2 February 2002: Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti
24 May 2002: Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn
26 October 2002: Princess Kalina of Bulgaria and Kitín Muñoz
8 February 2003: Prince Alexander of Liechtenstein and Astrid Kohl
12 April 2003 : Prince Laurent of Belgium and land surveyor Claire Louise Coombs
12 September 2003: Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and acrobat Adans Lopez Peres
25 September 2003: Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice and Clotilde Courau
24 April 2004: Prince Friso of the Netherlands and Mabel Wisse Smit
14 May 2004: Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark and Mary Donaldson
22 May 2004: Felipe, Prince of Asturias (Spain) and journalist Letizia Ortiz
5 November 2004: Prince Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou and María Margarita Vargas Santaella
2005: King Mswati III of Eswatini and Nothando Dube
15 November 2005: Sayako, Princess Nori of Japan and Yoshiki Kuroda
28 January 2006: Prince Adekunle Adebayo Omilana of Ipetu-Ijesha and Keisha Bolden
29 September 2006: Prince Louis of Luxembourg and Tessy Antony
2007: Princess Tania of Bourbon-Parma and Louis-Arnaud L'Herbier
24 May 2008: Prince Joachim of Denmark and Marie Cavallier
23 May 2009: Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Kelly Rondestvedt
2010: King Mswati III of Eswatini and Zena Mahlangu
19 June 2010: Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and her personal trainer Daniel Westling
25 August 2010: Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark and Tatiana Blatnik
28 August 2010: Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma and Annemarie Gualthérie van Weezel
29 April 2011: Prince William of Wales (United Kingdom) and Catherine Middleton^[8]
2 July 2011: Albert II, Prince of Monaco and Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock^[9]
21 April 2012: Princess Carolina de Bourbon de Parme and Albert Brenninkmeijer
2013: King Mswati III of Eswatini and Sindiswa Dlamini
8 June 2013: Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland (Sweden) and British-American financier Christopher O'Neill^[10]
July 2013: Manvendra Singh Gohil, Hereditary Prince of Rajpipla and Cecil DeAndre Richardson
31 August 2013: Prince Rahim Aga Khan and American model Kendra Irene Spears
17 September 2013: Prince Felix of Luxembourg and Claire Lademacher
5 October 2013: Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Pare and Viktória Cservenyák
10 May 2014: Prince Juan de Bagration-Mukhrani and Kristine Dzidziguri
27 May 2014: Princess Noriko of Takamado (Japan) and Kunimaro Senge
24 October 2014: Ismail Idris, Crown Prince of Johor and Khaleeda Bustamam
13 June 2015: Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland (Sweden) and model Sofia Hellqvist^[11]
8 July 2017: Ernst August, Hereditary Prince of Hanover and Ekaterina Igorievna Malysheva
9 September 2017: Prince Joel Dawit Makonnen and Ariana Joy Lalita Austin
6 October 2017: Nicholas Medforth-Mills and Alina-Maria Binder
7 October 2017: Philip, Hereditary Prince of Yugoslavia and Danica Marinković
16 March 2018: Prince Christian of Hanover and Alessandra de Osma
19 May 2018: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (United Kingdom) and actress Meghan Markle^[12]
7 June 2018: Muhammad V of Kelantan and Oksana Voevodina
15 September 2018: Duchess Sophie of Württemberg and Maximilien d'Andigné
12 October 2018: Princess Eugenie of York (United Kingdom) and bar manager Jack Brooksbank^[13]
29 October 2018: Princess Ayako of Takamado (Japan) and Kei Moriya^[14]
1 May 2019: King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand and bodyguard Suthida Tidjai^[15]
20 July 2020: Archduchess Eleonore of Austria and Jérôme d'Ambrosio^[16]
12 December 2020: Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark and Nina Flohr^[17]
2021: Prince Rostislav Romanov and Foteini Georganta
4 September 2021: Princess Maria-Anunciata of Liechtenstein and Carlo Emanuele Musini
19 September 2021: Prince Majahonkhe Dlamini of Eswatini and Nothando Hlophe
25 September 2021: Princess Marie-Astrid of Liechtenstein and Ralph Worthington V
26 October 2021: Princess Mako of Akishino (Japan) and Kei Komuro^[18]
2022: Archduke Karl, Archduke of Austria and Christian Nicolau de Almeida Reid
28 May 2022: Princess Mafalda Cecilia of Bulgaria and Marc Abousleiman
3 September 2022: Prince August zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Mia Rohla
24 September 2022: Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia and Rebecca Virginia Bettarini
12 March 2023: Princess Iman of Jordan and Jameel Alexander Thermiótis

Notes and References

Book: Kingston . Charles . Famous Morganatic Marriages . 1919 . Stanley Paul and Co. . London . 109–121.
Web site: Princess Margaret, daughter of George VI. Westminster Abbey. 14 May 2020.
Web site: The Duchess of Gloucester . . The Royal Household . 14 May 2020.
Web site: 1973: Crowds cheer marriage of Princess Anne . . 14 November 1973 . BBC. 14 May 2020.
https://www.kungahuset.se/kungafamiljen/hmdrottningsilvia/biografi.4.7c4768101a4e8883780001901.html |https://www.kungahuset.se/kungafamiljen/hmkonungcarlxvigustaf.4.7c4768101a4e8883780003.html
Web site: The Crown Doesn't Do Justice to Princess Anne's Real-Life Relationships . . 3 December 2019. Harper‘s Bazaar . 14 May 2020 .
News: Britain's Prince Edward, Sophie Rhys-Jones marry as royals look on . CNN. 19 June 1999. 14 May 2020.
Web site: Royal wedding: William and Kate marry at Abbey . . 29 April 2011. BBC. 14 May 2020.
Web site: Monaco Hopes for Tourism Boost From 'Other' Royal Wedding . . 27 April 2011. The Wall Street Journal. 14 May 2020.
Web site: The Princess Couple . . Sveriges Kungahus. 14 May 2020.
Web site: Sweden royal wedding: Prince Carl Philip marries ex-reality star . . 13 June 2015. BBC. 14 May 2020.
Web site: The Royal wedding 2018. . The Royal Household. 14 May 2020.
News: Princess Eugenie's royal wedding to Jack Brooksbank: Live updates from the Windsor Castle celebrations. Davies. Gareth. 12 October 2018. The Telegraph. 12 October 2018. en-GB. 0307-1235.
Web site: Japan’s Princess Ayako weds commoner Kei Moriya in ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. The Japan Times. 29 October 2018. 30 October 2018.
News: พระราชประวัติ สมเด็จพระราชินีสุทิดา. BBC News ไทย. 1 May 2019. 1 May 2019. www.bbc.com.
Web site: Mariage civil d’Eleonore de Habsbourg-Lorraine et de Jérôme d’Ambrosio à Monaco. 20 July 2020.
Web site: Prince Philippos marries Zuger billionaire's daughter Nina Flohr.
Web site: Princess Mako weds after drawn-out engagement drama. The Japan Times. 26 October 2021.