8 Celebrities Who Married Into Royalty

The most popular celebrity to have married into royalty within our generation, Markle has made continuous headlines since 2016, when rumors sparked of the former actress dating the beloved Prince Harry. The couple had the wedding of the year in 2018 with a reported 600 guests and more than 1 billion televised watchers. In 2020 Markle and Prince Harry stepped back from their royal duties and officially moved to the United States where they currently live with their two children, Archie and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. 

In 1949, Hollywood starlet Rita Hayworth married Prince Aly Khan (rightfully spelled as Ali), who was the heir to the Aga Khan dynasty. The two met while Hayworth was still married to her former husband Orson Welles, and Khan was busy with his "playboy" ways. Not long after meeting, Khan became infatuated with Kelly and pursued her until they eventually got married in the late '40s. The two had a daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, and were married for four years until Hayworth filed for divorce in 1951. After their split, Hayworth would go on to continue acting and marry two more times until her death in 1987.

Yes, you read that right. Long before the Don't Worry Darling star coupled up with Harry Styles, in 2003 Olivia Wilde married Tao Ruspoli, the son of Italian royalty Prince Alessandro. Though Ruspoli was technically a royal, the filmmaker was far from the standard prince as he lived in a bus and unashamedly wore flip-flops.

In a 2008 interview with TV Guide, Wilde told the interviewer how the royal title is purely a name with no special weight: "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," she said in the interview. The couple remained married for a little less than a decade up until Wilde filed for divorce in 2011. 

The original actress turned royal, Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco which earned her the title of Princess of Monaco. The couple first met at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival and would go on to get married a year later. Together Kelly and Rainier III would have three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert II of Monaco, and Princess Stéphanie. The two would remain married for 26 years until Kelly's unexpected death in 1982.

Before Diane von Furstenberg was a household fashion name, the designer lived the royal life after marrying Prince Egon von Furstenberg, son of German royalty Prince Tassilo zu Furstenberg, in 1969. The two met in 1965, and while it wasn't love at first sight, the two eventually fell in love and got married a few years later. They had two children, Prince Alexander and Princess Tatiana von Furstenberg, before officially splitting in 1973 (though they didn't finalize their divorce until 1983). Even after their separation, the former couple remained extremely good friends and co-parents all the way up to the prince's death in 2004.

American fashion model Kendra Spears married Prince Rahim Aga Khan, second son of Aga Khan IV, in 2013. Prior to her marriage, Spears was a known runway model who walked for high fashion labels such as Valentino, Gucci, Hermès, and Lanvin. She eventually converted to Islam upon marrying Khan. Spears and Khan have two kids, Prince Irfan Aga Khan and Prince Sinan, and remained married for nine years. The couple eventually divorced in February 2022.

Former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock married Prince Albert of Monaco, son of Grace Kelly and Ranier III, in 2011. Unlike the fairytale love story of Albert's parents, Wittstock and the prince started their marriage on shaky ground after reports stated that Albert had a (third) child out of wedlock which leaked not long before the wedding. Wittstock attempted to escape from the engagement but was somehow convinced to go through with the wedding, though she cried throughout most of the ceremony. Despite all chaos, the couple is still together and have two kids—Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques. 

Emma McQuiston was technically the first Black woman to marry into British royalty after marrying Ceawlin Thynne, Viscount of Weymouth, in 2013. Prior to her marriage, she was a well-known chef and did a little bit of acting. Similarly to Markle, McQuiston faced many racial issues among the British nobility though that didn't stop McQuiston from becoming Britain’s first Black future marchioness. The couple is still happily married with their two sons, John and Henry.