Royal romances: The story behind how these royal couples first met

Every love story is different and unique and like all other love stories, royals have their own set of romantic tales to tell. From King Edward VIII's chance meeting with his future wife, Wallis Simpson to Prince William and Kate Middleton's college romance, royals from around the world have had their share of intimate encounters and fairy tale affairs. Needless to say, a lot goes on behind the scenes until the day of the grand wedding.

That said, With Valentine's Day almost at out doorstep, here's a brief look at how your favorite royal met their significant other for the first time.

Photo: Getty images

Theirs was a bond that changed the entire line of British succession. However, what they did was all in a bid to preserve their love and affection for each other. One of the most celebrated yet infamous royal love stories in the British royal history is that of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

The royal couple were never meant to be. Simpson was a friend of Edward's mistress, who had asked her to tend to him during a weekend. Over time, their chance meetings became a regular thing, leading to the blossoming love affair between them.

Photo: Getty images

One of the most famous weddings that took place between a reigning Hollywood actress and a well-known royal was in 1948 between Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan, son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III who was the leader of the Nizārī Ismaili Muslims.

As per reports, after having seen Rita in a movie, the Prince fell head over heels for the actress and made sure that a meeting was arranged between them. However, in the preceding years, the couple separated and remarried.

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When it comes to American actresses marrying into royalty, besides Rita Hayworth, actress Grace Kelly’s marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco was also one of the most classic weddings of all time. It was at the Cannes Film Festival when the Prince first saw the actress and expressed his desire to marry her.

Following her marriage, the Queen of Monaco gave up on her acting career and continued serving as a royal until her tragic death in 1982.

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Queen Elizabeth II met Prince Philip at a very young age in 1934. The Queen was just 8 years old when she first became acquainted to her future husband, who surprisingly is also her close cousin.

On July 9, 1947, the 21 year old Princess Elizabeth married the 26 year old Prince Philip. The royal couple are still married and going strong after 74 years of togetherness.

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Since 1797, it was the first marriage of a reigning Swedish monarch that took place between King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath on 19 June 1976 at Storkyrkan.

The royal couple had met by chance. At that time, Silvia was working as an interpreter and a host at the 1972 Olympics. Coincidentally, the King also attended the event and 'clicked' instantly.

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Though theirs was a love story that had many ups and downs, the initial days of their love affair could not have predicted it at all. When Prince Charles first met Diana, he was actually dating her sister, Sarah Spencer. Two years after their first meeting, they met again at a party and were engaged just over six months later, followed by their union in 1981.

Unfortunately, the couple experienced great rifts in their marriage and separated in 1992.

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One of the most wonderful couples of all times, King Abdullah bin Al-Hussein and Queen Rania of Jordan met at a dinner party hosted by the King's sister. At that time, Rania worked for Apple in Amman. Following the meeting, two months later, the two were engaged and married in 1993.

Photo: Instagram/QueenRania

The dashing duo, King Felipe VI of Spain and Queen Letizia make one of the most handsome couples in the history of royalty. Prior to her wedding to the King, Letizia was an accomplished journalist. During one of her assignments, she was reporting an oil slick on the shoreline of Galicia, where she encountered the King, who had also visited the same place to offer his support to the victims. Following their meeting, the two married in 2004.

The Zimbabwean-South African Charlene Wittstock, who is also a former Olympic swimmer met Prince Albert II at a competition that took place in Monaco in 2000. The two dated for a couple of years and made their first appearance in 2006, at the Olympic Games in Torino.

While allegedly the Queen did have some lingering doubts about the wedding and even tried escaping it, but in the end the two are happily married with two children.

The King and Queen of Bhutan have their own tales to tell. The Bhutanes King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck met Jetsun Pema at the age of 17, at a family picnic. As per reports, the future King had told her that if they were single when they became adults, he would marry her. And so the fairy tale came true and the royal couple is happily married with two children.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary this year. Prince William and Kate Middleton met during their college days and became a couple. The couple dated for a few years and later split up in 2007. However, in October of 2010, the two announced their engagements and married on April 29, 2011.

In an interview, Prince William said, "We both were very young, it was at university, we were sort of both finding ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff, it was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up, and so it was just sort of a bit of space and a bit of things like that and it worked out for the better."

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married in 2018, the couple caused quite a stir in the public. However, upon their engagements in 2017, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle confirmed that their relationship was "definitely a set up." It was later reported that the couple were introduced to each other by a mutual friend.