8 American Women Who Became Princesses And 6 Who Came Close
Every little girl goes through this particular desire at least once in her life: the desire to one day become a real princess. Sure we would run around the house, wearing our tiara like a badge of honor, claiming to be whichever Disney princess was “in” that year as we recited lines from memory and twirled around in all our glory. But these women? Well, these women did what most could never even dream of - these women managed to actually obtain a real life crown via marriage by falling head over heels in love with royalty. At least eight of them did while the other seven got so dangerously close in a game of inches. It's quite a big deal for an American woman to marry into royalty since they have to jump through so many hoops depending on the nuptials' country, but in the end, it's well worth it to finally settle down with the man, and the crown, they love.
14 Grace Kelly
The most popular fairy tale story come to life was the story of actress Grace Kelly and Prince of Monaco, Prince Rainier III. While the stunning actress was attending the Cannes Film Festival in 1955, she was invited by the Palace of Monaco to participate in a photo session with the crown prince. Even though she was dating French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont at the time, she accepted and history was made. Prince Rainier eventually came to America later that year in order to seek out a wife (he had to marry and produce an heir) and started secretly dating Kelly behind the scenes. The duo married in a glamorous ceremony the following year at the Palace of Monaco in front of the entire world in a wildly televised event. Princess Grace and the Prince went on to have three heirs, one of which was a Prince (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre) along with two Princesses (Caroline Louise Marguerite and Stephanie Marie Elisabeth). Kelly tragically lost her life after suffering a stroke while she was driving with her daughter Stephanie at the age of 52.
13 Lisa Halaby
Lisa Najeeb Halaby, Queen Noor of Jordan, was born to government official Najeeb Halaby and Doris Carlquist in Washington D.C. in 1951. Her father served as the Secretary of Defense during the Truman administration, after which he moved on to head the Federal Aviation Administration for President John F. Kennedy. Halaby lived a very comfortable existence and graduated from Princeton before heading off to live in Australia. After becoming interested in the Middle East, she went to work for a British architectural firm that was hired to redesign Tehran, Iran. In 1977, she met Hussein of Jordan after becoming the Director of Facilities Planning and Design. The two become fast friends and soon fell in love with each other even though Hussein was still mourning the death of his wife, whom he had lost in a helicopter crash that same year. They married in 1978 and she bore him four children. King Hussein passed away in 1999 after a battle with lymphatic cancer and left the Queen a widow.
12 Lee Radziwill
While older sister Jackie went on to rule over her kingdom of Camelot, little sister Caroline Lee Bouvier went on to actually become royalty… in a way. All her life, Lee appeared to live in the shadow of her older sister, who was said to be the favorite daughter of John Vernou Bouvier III and Janet Norton Lee, and it became wildly apparent after Jackie went on to marry young senator John F. Kennedy, the man who would eventually become the President of the United States. Lee herself bounced around from relationship to relationship until she finally wed Michael Candfield, a publishing executive. The marriage didn't last long and eventually Lee met Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill, a former Polish prince, technically making Lee an actual princess in the long run. Like most of Lee's relationships though, this marriage fizzled out and the two ended up divorcing in 1974.
11 Rita Hayworth
Most millennials know actress Rita Hayworth as the giant pin-up girl who hid Andy Dufresne's little secret in The Shawshank Redemption (the original Stephen King novella in which the movie was based after was even titled Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption) but Hayworth was so very much more. She was the beautiful darling of the screen and starred in such films as Gilda, Cover Girl, Only Angels Have Wings, and You'll Never Get Rich, but not a lot of people know that she was an actual princess at one point in her life. She married Prince Aly Khan (her third husband) in a massive ceremony and officially become a princess - the first Hollywood actress to marry into royalty. The marriage didn't last long however when Hayworth discovered she really couldn't keep up with her husband's lifestyle. They had one child together (Princess Yasmin Aga Khan) before they divorced in 1953.
10 Joan Dillon
Joan Dillon was born to the U.S. Treasury Secretary C. Douglas Dillon in 1935 and went to live in Paris, France after her father was appointed American Ambassador. She met Prince Charles of Luxembourg after her failed first marriage to a son of a Boston investment banker named Frederick S. Moseley, Jr. Dillon and the Prince married in 1967 and had two children together. It's always hard for a divorcee to actually marry into royalty in regards to the Church and the kingdom itself - Dillon had to jump through hoops with the Prince and his family in order to officially get married. Dillon was dubbed “HRH Princess Joan of Luxembourg”. Unfortunately, Prince Charles died in Imbarcati, Pistoia at the young age of 49 and left Joan a widow. She ended up marrying Philippe, 8th Duke de Mouchy in 1978, however, and remained married to the Duke until his death in 2011.
9 Alexandra Miller
Before Alexandra Miller became actual royalty, she worked for fashion/real-life royalty and was loving life before she met and fell in love with a crown prince. Miller, who was born to an American businessman and his Ecuadorian wife, actually worked as an image director for Diane von Furstenberg. In 1995, she married Prince Alexander von Furstenberg, the only son of Diane von Furstenberg and Prince Egon von Fustenberg and became Her Serene Highness Princess Alexandra of Furstenberg. The marriage would only last less than a decade, however - the two ended up officially divorcing in 2002 and never had any children. Though, Miller would end up keeping her title as the Princess of Furstenberg until she actually remarried in 2015 to designer Dax Miller, who she had been engaged to for years.
8 Kelly Rondestvedt
The young and beautiful Kelly Rondestvedt was born and raised in San Diego, California and had earned her MBA from UCLA and ended up moving to New York City to become an investment banker in 2002. Kelly ended up meeting Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha while she was out to dinner with her girlfriends. She claim she saw the German prince from across a crowded room and fell in love. A year later, Prince Hubertus proposed to Kelly at his family's palace and the two married in 2009. Even though the couple is royalty, both lived and worked in New York City (the Prince works for a German bank while the Princess still is an investment banker) for a while before moving to Schloss Callenberg in Coburg, Germany.
7 Kendra Spears
The 28-year old fashion model was born in Seattle, Washington in 1988 and actually obtained her BA in sociology at the University of Washington before moving to New York City to start her modeling career after winning a modeling contest on MySpace. She ended up signing with Ford Models and walked the runway for designers like Gucci, Christian Lacroix, Hermes, and Valentino in Paris and Milan. Even though she quickly become a recognized high-end fashion model, she went back to Washington in order to complete her degree. In 2013, she married Prince Rahim Aga Khan, whose grandfather, Prince Aly Khan, was actually married to actress Rita Hayworth (as said before), and Kendra became Princess Salwa Aga Khan. The model gave birth to two boys and the couple are still happily married.
6 Olivia Wilde
Everyone knows the green-eyed beauty Olivia Wilde, who starred in numerous hit TV shows and films. Even though she's now happily married to comedian/actor Jason Sudeikis, she was actually married to an Italian Prince. Olivia and Tao Ruspoli, the son of late Italian Prince Dado Ruspoli, eloped when the actress was just 18 after knowing each other for only six months. Because the duo eloped (on an abounded bus, no less) she was never given the formal title of “Princess”, though some considered it an informal title, even though she didn't consider herself royalty. She did, however, receive mail that was labeled “Principessa”. The marriage actually lasted pretty long in Hollywood terms (eight years!) before the duo divorced and Olivia dated and married Sudeikis. Olivia doesn't seem to regret her marriage and often speaks fondly of it.
5 Zsa Zsa Gabor
Even though she was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, actress Zsa Zsa Gabor actually became an American citizen and lived and worked in the states. Gabor was infamously known for her many, MANY marriages (nine to be exact) including one to Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, which would be her final marriage. Gabor married German-American entrepreneur in 1986 when she was 26 years his senior. Both claimed to have married for friendship more so than love, but eventually fell in love the longer they were together. In 1980, Frederic was actually Hans Georg Robert Lichtenberg - he didn't change his name until he was officially adopted (at the age of 36) by Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt. The press claims that the Princess was bankrupt and that the actual adoption was simply a business transaction. Despite the adoption, the family of Anhalt doesn't recognize Frederic as a Prince despite his title, therefore not making him genuine royalty, much to Zsa Zsa's dismay when she married him later down the line.
4 Meghan Markle
Actress Meghan Markle is only on this list as an ALMOST PRINCESS, but that probably won't be for long since it looks like Prince Harry might be making the necessary moves to marry the young beauty. The 35-year old actress began dating the Prince privately in 2016 and rumors are starting to swirl that the Prince has already requested the Queen's permission to become betrothed to Markle, which means the actress might have snagged Great Britain's most eligible bachelor. Markle is only three years Harry's senior and has been married once before, which doesn't appear to bother the Prince. The two made their first public appearance as boyfriend and girlfriend when she attended the Audi Polo Challenge at Coworth Park in order to cheer Harry along, who played in the challenge. Chances are we'll be hearing wedding bells in the near future.
3 Britney Spears
This has to be my favorite story out of this entire piece: Apparently, the crown Prince of Wales, William, stood up pop star Britney Spears (sheesh, as if she wasn't damaged enough!). Apparently way back when, after Spears broke up with fellow teen pop sensation Justin Timberlake but before any of her marriages, the singer had a cyber relationship with Prince William, the eldest child of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. For a long while, Britney denied any sort of relationship, but in 2002, she went on The Frank Skinner Show and admitted that not only had she and the Prince become quite friendly, but that he also snubbed her in the long run. “It was just like, all blown out of proportion,” Britney told Skinner. “We exchanged e-mails for a little bit, and he was supposed to come and see me somewhere, but it didn't work out.” Skinner then replied “You were blown off by Prince William?” to which Spears replied “Yeah.”. Well, if you had to be blown off by a royal, good thing it was William.
2 Koo Stark
Koo Stark, who was born Kathleen Dee-Anne Stark, is an actress/photographer who got caught up in a whirlwind of a friendship with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York back in the 1970's. In her days as an actress, Stark took some pretty “out there” roles, including parts in the weird films The Adolescents and All I Want Is You… and You… and You, and even took an uncredited part as a bridesmaid in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She played in Star Wars in 1977, but both her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor before the release of the popular film. Though they were never officially together, Stark had a close and personal “friendship” with Prince Andrew before his marriage. They were seen everywhere together but when he returned from the Falklands War, they ended up parting ways.
1 Catherine Ommanney
You may know Catherine Ommanney as one of The Real Housewives of DC, housewives who was born in London, UK, but moved to Maryland after marrying Charles Ommanney, a Newsweek photojournalist. Now, while she WAS born out of the country, she married and had children while living in the states. Back in 2010, the interior designer apparently had an affair with none other than Prince Harry (dude gets around) himself. Even though she was 13-years his senior at the time (she was 34 at the time of the said affair), the affair was pretty hot and heavy. The Prince was seeing Chelsy Davy at the time and the rumors sent her running for the hills. The ex-nanny of Ommanney's claimed that the Prince would send chauffeur driven cars to pick up the “actress” so they could meet up for their trysts. The affair obviously didn't last long, however, and the palace actually issued a denial of the allegations.
