Have you always dreamed of marrying a handsome prince in a faraway kingdom? These women have done just that! Proving to the world that fairy tales really can come true, Kate Middleton has joined the tiara-wearing ranks of Princess Letizia of Spain, Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, Princess Mary of Denmark, and Princess Masako of Japan—all of whom are causing a frenzy of princess mania to sweep across the globe.

HIM: Born January 30, 1968, Felipe is the third child and only son of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain. After stints in all three branches of the armed forces, the prince graduated from the Autonomous University of Madrid before earning his master’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University (where he shared a student room with his cousin, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece).

HER: Born September 15, 1972, Letizia comes from a very normal family—her father worked as a journalist and her mother as a hospital nurse. She graduated from Complutense University of Madrid, before earning her master’s degree from the Institute for Studies in Audiovisual Journalism and eventually became an award-winning television reporter—working for CNN, ABC, and Bloomberg, among others. Prior to meeting her prince, Letizia reported from some of the world’s most hostile environments. She covered the 2000 U.S. presidential election, broadcast live from Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and reported from the front lines of the Iraq War. Letizia fell in love with the handsome Prince Felipe in 2002, when she was sent to northern Spain to cover the ecological disaster caused by a sinking oil tanker.

THEIR REGAL ROMANCE: Prince Felipe always insisted that when he ultimately chose his princess, it would be “a relationship based on love, respect and kindness.” He seems to have met his match in the beautiful, thoroughly modern Letizia, who is independent, cultured, and exceedingly accomplished. Although the couple had met once before at a dinner party, during their second meeting they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other and began secretly dating almost immediately. The public was none the wiser until their official engagement was announced. Although Letizia was a divorcée (something that would not have been tolerated for a royal bride in the past), the public were delighted that their country would have a Spanish queen for the first time since 1879. Letizia quickly overcame any controversy and was openly embraced by the Spanish people, who happily view her as the figurehead of a new era and a “queen for the twenty-first century.” Felipe and Letizia married in Madrid on the morning of May 22, 2004.

HEIRS AND SPARES: Princess Leonor (born October 31, 2005) and Princess Sofia (born April 29, 2007)

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HIM: Born July 20, 1973, Prince Haakon’s parents are King Harald V and Queen Sonja. He was educated at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Oslo, and the London School of Economics, where he studied International Politics, Law, and Social Science. Handsome and athletically built, Haakon loves to sail, ski, surf, and cycle. He is also an avid patron of the arts with a deep passion for theater, music, and literature. Haakon became Crown Prince of Norway on the death of his grandfather in 1991. When he married Mette-Marit in 2001, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark served as his best man.

HER: Born August 19, 1973, Mette-Marit has no royal heritage—her father was a journalist and her mother worked in a bank. Like Haakon, she adores anything to do with sailing. In her wild youth, this Gwyneth Paltrow look-alike frequented raves and enjoyed dancing to house music. (“I certainly didn’t have any ball gowns before I met Haakon!” she says.⁹) This party girl already had a three-year-old son (out of wedlock) when she met the crown prince through mutual friends, but despite the initial scrutiny, Norwegians were soon bowled over by her Nordic beauty, graceful intelligence, and unassuming demeanor.

THEIR REGAL ROMANCE: A single-mother princess with a child fathered by a man who has been linked to drug dealing? How could it possibly be? Well, when Crown Prince Haakon set eyes on this elegant Hitchcock blonde at a rock concert, he didn’t think twice about her lessthan-perfect past. Totally smitten, the prince shocked the world by welcoming Mette-Marit and her son Marius into his home, and within months he proposed to her.

HEIRS AND SPARES: Princess Ingrid (born January 21, 2004) and Prince Sverre (born December 3, 2005). Marius Borg Høiby (born January 13, 1997) is not in the line of succession, but is very much part of the Norwegian royal family.

PHILANTHROPY OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS:

HRH CROWN PRINCE HAAKON IS ALSO THE PATRON OF:

HRH CROWN PRINCESS METTE-MARIT IS ALSO PATRON OF:

HIM: Born May 26, 1968, Frederik is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark and heir to the Danish throne (Europe’s oldest monarchy). He studied political science at Harvard University, worked with the Danish UN mission in New York and later the Danish embassy in Paris, before eventually earning his MSc from the University of Aarhus. The dashing prince has also completed training with all three military services, most notably with the elite Royal Frogmen Corps (the naval Special Forces). Frederik once said, “I want to be a good ambassador for my country. But I will not shut myself away in a castle. I will be myself. I will be a human being.”¹⁰ Easygoing, fun-loving, and incredibly popular with the Danish people, Prince Frederik has a well-known penchant for adventure (including polar dog sledding and jungle treks) and has run marathons in Copenhagen, New York, and Paris.

HER: Born February 5, 1972, Mary is the youngest of four children. Incredibly down-to-earth, she was raised by her Scottish parents in Australia, where her father worked as a mathematics professor and her mother as a secretary. After graduating from university, the ravenhaired beauty moved swiftly into a dazzling advertising career, including stints with high-flying companies like Young & Rubicam and Microsoft. Simple and chic, Mary is known for her classic-yet-modern taste, causing many observers to draw comparisons to Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn. Mary once said of her girlhood dreams, “I don’t recall ever wishing to become a princess. I wanted to be a veterinarian!” But her ordinary life was forever changed one night in a pub, when she met a young man who introduced himself as “Fred.”

THEIR REGAL ROMANCE: Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark met Mary at the Slip Inn during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Never mind that she was a commoner; Frederik knew instantly that he had met the princess of his dreams. Not only was Mary undeniably beautiful, she was natural, relaxed, stylish, and sensible. She also loved horseback riding and all outdoor sports, just as he did. The prince was smitten. The starry-eyed couple embarked upon a discreet long-distance relationship until their engagement was officially announced in October 2003. They married on May 14, 2004, in Copenhagen Cathedral.

HEIRS AND SPARES: Prince Christian (born October 15, 2005) and Princess Isabella (born April 21, 2007). On January 8, 2011, Denmark rejoiced when Mary gave birth to twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.

PHILANTHROPY OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS:

HRH THE CROWN PRINCESS IS ALSO THE PATRON OF THE FOLLOWING:

HRH THE CROWN PRINCE IS THE PATRON OF THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:

HIM: Born February 23, 1960, Prince Naruhito (known as Prince Hiro) is the oldest son of Emperor Akihito and heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne of Japan—the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy. A graduate of History and Humanities from Gakushuin University, the prince has also studied at Oxford University in the UK and published a memoir about the experience entitled The Thames and I. His hobbies include jogging, hiking, mountaineering, and playing the viola. The prince remains a robust advocate for water conservation and other green causes—frequently acting as a keynote speaker on the subject. It has been said that the prince was completely smitten with the beautiful and intelligent Masako the first time he saw her.

HER: Born December 9, 1963, Masako was hardly a ditzy aristocrat. The eldest daughter of Mr. Hisashi Owada (a professor and diplomat), the teenage Masako attended an American high school outside of Boston, where she had a 4.0 GPA and became president of the National Honor Society. She continued her education at Harvard (magna cum laude) and Oxford, never suspecting that one day she would be a princess. Masako speaks no fewer than five languages (English, French, German, Russian, and Japanese) and passed Japan’s Foreign Ministry entrance exam in record time. She is smart, charming, thoroughly modern, and seems to get along with everyone she meets. “She’s always had the qualities of an empress,” a friend once said.

THEIR REGAL ROMANCE: Crown Prince Naruhito ardently pursued and eventually proposed to the then twenty-nine-year-old Masako, who was working as a professional diplomat in the Japanese Foreign Ministry. But Masako wasn’t interested in giving up her career, so she gently declined the prince’s proposal—twice! Still, the prince persevered until Masako accepted. (“You might have fears and worries about joining the imperial household,” he reportedly said to her, “but I will protect you for my entire life.”) On June 9, 1993, the couple were married in a picture-perfect traditional Japanese wedding ceremony. Masako became the second commoner ever to enter the Japanese imperial household, but despite this lack of noble breeding, she is next in line to become Empress of Japan.

HEIR: Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko (born December 1, 2001); her official title is Toshi no Miya, or Princess Toshi. However, females cannot inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne, so unless changes are made to the male-only law of imperial succession, Aiko will never be empress of Japan; rather the throne will pass to her cousin Prince Hisahito of Akishino.

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