Popular Celebs Who Married Into Royalty
It is not uncommon for those who get engaged and marry into royalty to gain worldwide fame. Others, like Meghan Markle, have already achieved some level of fame before falling in love with a royal. This can be both a blessing and a curse because of their public personal lives that are scrutinized more closely. With her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018, Meghan Markle wasn’t the first celebrity to marry royalty. Additionally, she is also not the first woman of African heritage to marry a member of British royalty. Listed below are the popular celebs who married into royalty.
Rita Hayworth
It was possible that Rita Hayworth‘s 1948 marriage to Prince Aly Khan was the first wedding where a celebrity and a royal joined forces. Prince Aly Khan was the son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III, leader of the Nizārī Ismaili Muslims. The Prince was reported to have fallen head over heels for Rita, The Love Goddess, after seeing her in a movie. So he arranged a meeting between the two. Nevertheless, the couple divorced after the prince reportedly had an affair. Later, Rita went on to marry two more times.
Grace Kelly
In one of the first marriages between a Hollywood star and royalty, Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco. During the Cannes Film Festival in 1955, Kelly and Rainier met, and three days later, he proposed to her. It was the most classic weddings of all times. She eventually became the Princess of Monaco after marrying the prince, but her royal duties forced her to retire from her acting career at the age of 26, according to History . In 1982, Princess Grace died in a tragic car accident at the age of 52.
Olivia Wilde
Even though Olivia Wilde was not famous at the time of her marriage, she was destined for stardom. She was born to parents who were prominent journalists. She also appeared on the shows Skin and The O.C. around the time of her wedding. At only 18 years of age, Olivia and her boyfriend, Tao Ruspoli, married — in an old school bus she and Tao had been living in in a rural area of Virginia. Filmmaker Tao Ruspoli, is the son of Prince Alessandro, of Italian royalty, and actress Debra Berger. That made Olivia a princess, but she never used the title and they split in 2011.
One of the more popular celebs who married into royalty, when asked about the perks, said, “No special parking spaces or tiaras. Since it’s only a papal title, it doesn’t carry a lot of weight, but his family does have a beautiful castle and palazzo in Italy, so that makes me feel like a princess.”
Charlene Wittstock
In a three-day wedding celebration, the former Olympic swimmer from South Africa married Prince Albert II on July 1. The wedding featured a concert by The Eagles. Later, a lavish reception was held on July 2 attended by well-known guests including Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex. The prince is the son of actress Grace Kelly and Rainier III and hence Charlene Wittstock became the Princess of Monaco after the marriage.
Emma McQuiston
After an 18-month courtship, Emma McQuiston married Ceawlin Thynne, Viscount of Weymouth, in June 2013, becoming the first black marchioness of the UK.
Similar to Meghan Markle, the former actress and celebrity chef noted racism and snobbery by members of the upper classes of Britain, including her own mother-in-law, who reportedly wasn’t allowed to attend their wedding by her own son, according to a Daily Beast report. They live at Longleat, where she oversees the manor.
Casper Van Dien
During a 1999 action film shoot for the film The Collectors, Casper Van Dien met Catherine Oxenberg, his former wife. It is no surprise that Oxenberg married into royalty as she is the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia. According to Best Life, Oxenberg had the opportunity to play the late Princess Diana twice during her royal tenure. She is also known for her role in the soap opera Dynasty and the couple even had their own reality show on Lifetime called I Married a Princess.
