American Women Who Became Real Life Royalty

When actress Meghan Markle weds Britain’s Prince Harry in May, she will join a very small group of American women who have become real life royalty.

The story almost sounds like something straight out of a Hallmark made-for-TV movie.

An American woman serendipitously meets a prince and the two fall madly in love with one another. It is, quite literally, the stuff that fantasy love stories are made of.

It’s not all fiction, however, as there are numerous United States-born women who have found themselves living that regal fantasy.

Below, you will find a list of those women, adapted from Town & Country.

Scroll down to see a list of American women who have become princesses in real life.

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly is maybe the most famous American woman to ever become royalty.

She was an Academy Award-winning actress who ended up marrying His Serene Highness Rainier III, Prince of Monaco.

The two met while Kelly was in the South of France screening her Oscar-winning film The Country Girl at he Cannes Film Festival.

They became engaged by Christmas of that same year and married the following April.

Kelly never acted again, rather she remained in Monaco until her death.

 

 

Lisa Halaby

Lisa Halaby was born in Princeton, New Jersey. Her mother was of Swedish descent and her father was Syrian.

She graduated from Concord Academy as well as Princeton, and received a master’s degree in Urban Planning.

Halaby went to work for Royal Jordanian Airlines which is where she met King Hussein of Jordan.

The two hit it off and married in 1978, with Halaby taking on the new monikor of Queen Noor. (Noor is the Arabic word for “light.”)

Rita Hayworth

If Grace Kelly is the most famous American woman to become real life royalty, Rita Hayworth is a very close runner-up.

Kelly was a Golden Globe-nominated actress who starred in classic films such as Gilda and Only Angels Have Wings.

She married Orson Welles in 1943 and then divorced him in 1947.

Two years later, Hayworth married Prince Aly Khan, who was the son of the Aga Khan (the Imam of Ismaili Muslims as well as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad).

The couple eventually divorced and Hayworth married two more times before death in 1987.

Lee Radziwill

Lee Radziwill is a younger sister of Jackie Kennedy.

In 1959, just before JFK officially announced he was running for president, Radziwill married Polish prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwill.

She remained married to the prince for 15 years and the couple had two children together.

Marie-Chantal Miller

Marie-Chantal Miller was born in America, but grew up all over the world.

Hong Kong, Paris, London, and New York, Gstaad, and Yorkshire are just some of the places that she called home.

In 1995, she married Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, who is the son of the deposed King Constantine of Greece.

Miller then became Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Greece, Princess of Denmark and went on to have five children

She is also the founder and creative director of a luxury clothing brand for children that is named after her.

Alexandra Miller

Alexandra Miller is the younger sister of Marie-Chantal Miller (who also married into royalty).

Alexandra married Prince Alexandre von Fürstenberg in 1995, the same year her sister married Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece.

The couple has one daughter, Princess Talita von Fürstenberg, who is an 18-year-old socialite and fashion model.

Kendra Spears

Kendra Spears was born in Seattle, Washington in 1988.

She spent years modeling for designers such as Prada, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy before settling down.

In 2013, Spears married Prince Rahim Aga Khan, the eldest son of the current Aga Khan.

She is now known as Princess Salwa Aga Khan and lives in Switzerland with her husband and their two children.

Kelly Rondestvedt

Kelly Rondestvedt is a Florida-born investment banker who holds an MBA from UCLA.

She married Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 2009, making Rondestvedt Her Highness Hereditary Princess Kelly of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha.

Their wedding was attended by likes of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden and Princess Astrid of Belgium.

Interestingly, Prince Albert and his wife/first cousin Queen Victoria were members of the house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Hope Cooke

San Francisco-born Hope Cooke was 20-year-old Sarah Lawrence College freshman when she traveled through India in 1959.

Over the course of her journey, she wound up meeting Palden Thondup Namgyal, the Crown Prince of tiny Himalayan nation Sikkim, at the Darjeeling’s Windermere Hotel bar.

Two years later the couple married, Cooke renounced her U.S. citizenship, and the two more years after that she became Her Highness Hope La, the Gyalmo of Sikkim.

The relationship was reportedly very rocky, however, and the couple divorced in the 1980s.

Sarah Butler

Sarah Butler is a native of Texas who holds a degree in International Relations as well as an MSC in Development Studies.

She has also worked with the United Nations on multiple occasions.

In 2000, Butler became Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah Zeid when she married Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, who is a member of the Jordanian House of Hashemite and Crown Prince of Iraq.