10 Modern-day Royals From Reigning Royal Houses Who Married in the Aristocracy

The story of the modern-day fairytale of royal romances is not quite the same as in the previous centuries. Today, princes and princesses no longer marry according to royal customs but according to their hearts.

Thus, we often see royals marrying non-aristocratic commoners. However, there are still modern-day royals who chose to marry someone from the aristocracy, not because the marriage is arranged, or for the sake of dynastic alliances, but because they are truly in love. Oh, hearts! 💖

Here are 10 of them. We chose modern-day royal couples from the reigning royal houses in the world, who are still both living, and who married from the 1970s up to the present time. We arranged them based on the length of their marriage.

1. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent - married for 44 years. His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent is the youngest child of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. He is the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II at the same time nephew of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent

Prince Michael, who served as one of the page boys at the wedding of Prince Philip and the Queen in 1947, was just five weeks old when his father, Prince George, died in a plane crash in August 1942.

He married a German aristocrat, Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz on June 30, 1978, in a civil ceremony in Vienna, Austria. 

The Baroness is a Roman Catholic, under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, which prohibited royals who are in the line of succession to the British throne from marrying Roman Catholics, Prince Michael lost his place in the line of succession. He was reinstated in 2015 when the Law of Succession to the British throne was repealed.

The Baroness is now known as Princess Michael of Kent. They have two children, Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Windsor-Kingston. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent currently lived in Kensington Palace, London.

2. Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg and Archduke Carl Christian of Austria. married for 41 years. Her Royal Highness Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg is the eldest child of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium (older sister of King Albert II of Belgium).

Princess Marie-Astrid and Archduke Carl Christian

On February 6, 1982, she wed Archduke Carl Christian Hapsburg of Austria, the grandson of the last emperor of Austria, Charles I. 

The archduke's mother, Princess Yolande of Ligne, is the cousin of Princess Marie Astrid's mother, Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium. Following their wedding, Princess Marie-Astrid took the title Archduchess of Austria. They have children together.

3. Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg and Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein - married for 41 years. Her Royal Highness Princess Margaretha is the younger sister of Princess Marie-Astrid. 

They are daughters of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium. The reigning Sovereign of Luxembourg, Grand Duke Henri, is their brother.

Prince Nikolaus, Princess Margaretha, and their only son, Prince Josef-Emanuel

Princess Margaretha has a twin brother, Prince Jean of Luxembourg. She married Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, the younger brother of the reigning Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II, on March 20, 1982, just six weeks after the wedding of her older sister, Princess Marie-Astrid.

Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus' marriage is the only known dynastic marriage between the two reigning royal houses in Europe today. They have three children together.

4. Princess Astrid of Belgium and Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este - married for 38 years now. Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium is the second child of King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola. She is the younger sister of King Philippe of Belgium.

Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz

Princess Astrid married Archduke Lorenz Hapsburg of Austria-Este, the second son of the last emperor of Austria, Charles I, on September 22, 1984. Archduke Lorenz is the current Head of the House of Austria-Este, a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Following his marriage to Princess Astrid of Belgium, his father-in-law, King Albert II, granted him with the title of Prince of Belgium. His courtesy style is Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este. Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz have five children.

5. Prince Alois and Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein - married for 29 years now. Prince Alois, the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein is the eldest son and heir of the reigning Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II.

The Hereditary Prince and Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein

Since 2004, Prince Alois is Liechtenstein's Regent after his father transferred to him some of his state duties and government power.

On July 3, 1993, Prince Alois married Duchess Sophie of Bavaria from the House of Wettelsbach, the former ruling family of Bavaria in Germany.

Duchess Sophie is a relative to the popular monarch of Bavaria, King Ludwig II, who owned the fairytale castle in Bavaria, the Neuschwanstein Castle.

Duchess Sophie who is now known as the Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein, is the heiress to the Jacobite succession of the British throne. Her unmarried uncle, Prince Franz, Duke of Bavaria, is the most senior male descendant of King Charles I of Britain. 

Many Jacobite supporters today (Jacobite refers to the supporters of the reign of King James II, the Stuart British king who was forced to abdicate due to his Catholic faith) considered Prince Franz as the legitimate claimant to the British throne.

6. Princess Caroline of Monaco and Prince Ernst August of Hanover - married for 23 years. Princess Caroline is the older sister of the Sovereign Head of Monaco, Prince Albert II. 

Princess Caroline and Prince Ernst Augustus in 1999

For nine years she was the Hereditary Princess of Monaco as her brother's heir-presumptive, until the birth of Albert's legitimate children, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, in December 2014.

Princess Caroline married for the third time on January 23, 1999, to Prince Ernst August of Hanover, head of the House of Hanover, a former Kingdom in Germany. Prince Ernst is a direct descendant of King George III of Britain. He is also a first cousin of Queen Sofia of Spain.

Princess Caroline and Prince Ernst August shared one child, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, who was born six months after their wedding.

However, in 2009, the couple reportedly separated but did not divorce, thus, they are still legally married today, and Princess Caroline continues to be addressed as Caroline, Princess of Hanover.

7. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium - married for 23 years now. The reigning Belgian king is the eldest child of King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola. He married Baroness Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz on December 4, 1999. 

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde

She is the daughter of a Belgian baron, Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz , and Countess Anna Komorowska, who belonged to the Polish aristocracy.

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium

Following her marriage to Prince Philippe, the Duke of Brabant, King Albert II of Belgium elevated the noble status of her father to a Count and became Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz .

The reigning King and Queen of Belgium are now happily married for 23 years with four children: The Duchess of Brabant (Princess Elisabeth), Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel, and Princess Eleonore.

8. Princess Haya bint Hussein of Jordan and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum - married for 15 years before they divorced in 2019. Princess Haya is the half-sister of the reigning King of Jordan, Abdullah II. Her father was King Hussein of Jordan.

The Sheikh and Princess Haya before separation

On April 10, 2004, Princess Haya married Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 25 years her senior. But in 2019 Sheikh Maktoum filed for divorce under Sharia law. 

They had a bitter custody battle of their two children which attracted intense media coverage internationally. There were allegations of abduction of their children by the Sheikh who is now the ruler of Dubai and the Vice President of UAE.

Princess Haya was granted diplomatic immunity in the United Kingdom as an envoy of the Embassy of Jordan. She currently resides in a lavish home near Kensington Palace Gardens.

9. Prince Guillaume and Princess Stephanie of Luxembourg - married for 10 years now. Prince Guillaume, the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, is the eldest son and heir of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg. 

He married Countess Stephanie de Lannoy on October 19, 2012, in a civil ceremony, followed by a religious wedding ceremony on October 20, 2012, in Luxembourg.

Prince Guillaume and Princess Stephanie

Countess Stephanie de Lannoy is the youngest child of Count Philippe de Lannoy of the House of Lannoy, one of the oldest noble houses in Belgium.

The House of Lannoy traced back its origin to the 13th-century nobility in Hainaut, Belgium, whose members descended from Charles de Lannoy, the 1st Prince of Sulmona.

The Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

Prince Guillaume is the only European heir today who married an aristocrat. Princess Stephanie gave birth to their eldest child, Prince Charles, in May 2020. In September last year, they announced that Princess Stephanie is pregnant with their second child.

10. Princess Azemah Bolkiah and Prince Bahar Bolkiah of Brunei - married just this January 2023. The first royal wedding of 2023 is the wedding of Her Royal Highness Princess Azemah Bolkiah of Brunei, daughter of His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, and her first cousin His Highness Prince Bahar Bolkiah of Brunei.

Prince Bahar and Princess Azemah on their wedding day

Her husband is the son of the sultan's younger brother, Prince Jefri. They are both members of the national polo team and are both competitive polo athletes who represented Brunei in many international polo tournaments.

Royal marriage between first cousins, which was the common trend in previous centuries, is now rare. They wed in January this year in Brunei attended by foreign guests and the celebration lasted 10 days.