Royal marriages to commoners have historically been uncommon, due to traditions of members of royal families, especially high-level ones, only marrying other persons considered to be royalty, sometimes with penalties for royals who married far below their rank, deemed morganatic marriage. Often, alliances could be created between countries or strengthened within a country through intermarriage of two royal families. On the other hand, occasionally a member of a royal family married a commoner simply due to romantic feelings or physical attraction, and possibly to endear themselves to the general population by establishing that sense of connection. This trend has accelerated and become more accepted in modern times.
Some of the individuals in the lists below are members of deposed royal dynasties and not of reigning royal families.
Before Common Era (Before Christ) Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Tiye (14th century BC) King David and Bathsheba, 11th century BC King Ahasuerus and Esther, 5th century BC
Early modern 1356: King Casimir III the Great of Poland and Krystyna Rokiczana, widow of a merchant, as his third wife. January 1557: Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria and Philippine Welser, daughter of a merchant. After her death, he married dynastically to Anna Juliana Gonzaga and fathered Anna of Tyrol, Holy Roman Empress. 4 July 1568: King Eric XIV of Sweden and Karin Månsdotter, daughter of a prison guard. He was deposed within a year. 1698: Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau and Anna Luise Föhse 1707: Tsar Peter the Great of Russia and Marta Skowrońska, who was born a peasant, but ended up succeeding her husband as Catherine I of Russia. They are the ancestors of the Russian Imperial Family. 1794: Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino and Musignano and Christine Boyer 1 August 1794: Prince Joseph Bonaparte and Julie Clary
19th century 24 December 1803: Prince Jérôme Bonaparte and Elizabeth Patterson 3 September 1823: Archduke John of Austria and Anna Plochl, daughter of a postmaster. Their romance was immortalized in the 1929 Austrian film Archduke John November 1829: Prince Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte and Susan May Williams 28 December 1833 Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen Dowager of Spain, and her bodyguard Agustín Fernando Muñoz. On 23 June 1844 he was created Duke of Riánsares by her daughter Queen Isabella II of Spain 5 April 1836: Charles Ferdinand of the Two Sicilies, Prince of Capua and Penelope Smyth, at Gretna Green 8 January 1847: Prince George, Duke of Cambridge and actress Sarah Fairbrother, in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772 4 June 1848: Infanta Josefina Fernanda of Spain and writer José Güell y Renté 20 April 1850: Prince Adalbert of Prussia and dancer Therese Elssler 7 August 1850: King Frederick VII of Denmark and dancer/actress Louise Rasmussen as his third wife 1852: Prince Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte and Éléonore-Justine Ruflin 28 May 1859: Duke Ludwig Wilhelm in Bavaria and actress Henriette Mendel 21 August 1860: Duke Ernest of Württemberg and actress/singer Natalie Eischborn 4 February 1868: Archduke Heinrich Anton of Austria and singer Leopoldine Hofmann 14 November 1868: Prince August of Württemberg and Marie Bethge 10 June 1869: King Ferdinand II of Portugal and Swiss-German soprano as his second wife Elise Hensler, created Countess of Edla 18 October 1869: King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Rosa Vercellana as his second wife, daughter of an Officer in the King's Guards 1 September 1875: Prince Charles Joseph Bonaparte and Ellen Channing Day 1880: Prince Roland Bonaparte and Marie-Félix Blanc 1882: Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia and Nadezhda Alexandrovna Dreyer, daughter of the Orenburg police chief 30 October 1889: Albert I, Prince of Monaco and American heiress Alice Heine as his second wife 1889: Archduke John Salvator of Austria and dancer Ludmilla Stubel. They disappeared the following year off the coast of Cape Horn
20th century 27 January 1903: Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of Austria and prostitute Wilhelmine Adamovicz 25 September 1907: Archduchess Louise of Austria, former Crown Princess of Saxony, and musician Enrico Toselli 15 August 1909: Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria and Bertha Czuber, daughter of Austrian mathematician Emanuel Czuber 9 January 1913: Archduchess Eleonora of Austria and sailor Alfons von Kloss 16 November 1916: Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia and Russian officer Nikolai Kulikovsky 26 September 1917: Afonso, Duke of Porto (after the 5 October 1910 revolution to overthrow the Portuguese monarchy) and American heiress Nevada Stoody Hayes 1 February 1920: Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark and American heiress Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds 30 January 1921: Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia and Mathilde Kschessinska 24 June 1921: Princess Marie-Louise of Madagascar and André Bossard 23 November 1922: Princess Dagmar of Denmark and Jørgen Castenskjold, son of the Court Chamberlain 11 February 1924: Prince Erik of Denmark and Canadian Lois Booth 10 June 1924: Prince Viggo of Denmark and American Eleanor Margaret Green 7 November 1931: Prince Nicolae of Romania and Ioana Dumitrescu-Doletti 11 March 1932: Prince Lennart of Sweden and Karin Nissvandt 8 March 1934: Prince Sigvard of Sweden and Erica Maria Patzek 3 June 1937: Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) and American socialite Wallis Simpson 21 September 1942: Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and British aristocrat Nadine Sylvia Ada McDougall 19 February 1946: Prince Carl Johan of Sweden and journalist Kerstin Wijkmark 24 July 1946: Louis II, Prince of Monaco and actress Ghislaine Dommanget 21 April 1947: Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark and English army officer Major Richard Brandram 12 August 1947: Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria and Alžbeta Brezáková 4 February 1948: Prince Oluf of Denmark and Dorrit Puggard-Müller 24 May 1949: Prince Flemming of Denmark and Alice Ruth Nielsen 27 May 1949 Prince Aly Khan and actress Rita Hayworth 4 December 1951: Princess Antoinette of Monaco and tennis champion Alexandre-Athenase Noghès 10 October 1952: Atsuko, Princess Yori of Japan and aristocrat Takamasa Ikeda 15 May 1953: Princess Ragnhild of Norway and shipowner Erling Lorentzen 5 March 1955: Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and Paule-Monique Izzi 18 April 1956: Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and American actress Grace Kelly 10 April 1959: Akihito, Crown Prince of Japan and Michiko Shōda 20 December 1959: Emperor Mohammed Reza I of Iran and Farah Diba 3 March 1960: Takako, Princess Suga of Japan and aristocrat Hisanaga Shimazu 6 May 1960: Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom and photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones 12 January 1961: Princess Astrid of Norway and sailor Johan Ferner 21 January 1961: Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and American businessman Howard Oxenberg 25 May 1961: King Hussein of Jordan and English assistant secretary Toni Gardiner 8 June 1961: Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and aristocrat Katharine Worsley 2 December 1961: Princess Antoinette of Monaco and Dr. Jean-Charles Rey 20 March 1963: Palden Thondup Namgyal, Chogyal (King) of Sikkim and American Hope Cooke 30 June/5 August 1963: Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid and Swedish Margaretha Inga Elisabeth Lind 30 June 1964: Princess Margaretha of Sweden and English businessman John Ambler 7 February 1965: Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark and artist Marina Karella 7 July 1965: Archduke Géza von Habsburg and Monika Decker 16 December 1966: Princess Yasuko of Mikasa (Japan) and aristocrat Tadateru Konoe 10 January 1967: Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven 1 March 1967 Prince Charles of Luxembourg and American Joan Dillon 13 January 1968: Prince Ingolf of Denmark and Inge Terney 29 August 1968: Harald, Crown Prince of Norway and Sonja Haraldsen, daughter of clothing merchant Karl August Haraldsen 23 September 1969: Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and British politician Neil Balfour 16 November 1969: Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria and Bronisław Tomasz Andrzej Chrobok 1971: Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples and Swiss water skier Marina Doria 9 February 1971: Prince Christian of Denmark and Anne Dorte Maltoft-Nielsen 11 September 1971: Prince Philipp of Liechtenstein and Belgian aristocrat Isabelle de l'Arbre de Malander 8 July 1972: Prince Richard of Gloucester and Danish Birgitte van Deurs 12 October 1972: Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria and Dr. Carlos Zurita y Delgado 24 December 1972: King Hussein I of Jordan and Alia Toukan 14 November 1973: Princess Anne of the United Kingdom and Captain Mark Phillips 15 June 1974: Princess Christina of Sweden and Tord Magnuson 28 June 1975: Princess Christina of the Netherlands and Cuban Jorge Guillermo 1 October 1975: Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff and Thomas Mathew 25 December 1975: Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah and Haminah binti Hamidun 1976: Julio I, Afro-Bolivian King and Angélica Larrea 19 June 1976: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and German interpreter Silvia Sommerlathhttps://www.kungahuset.se/kungafamiljen/hmdrottningsilvia/biografi.4.7c4768101a4e8883780001901.html |https://www.kungahuset.se/kungafamiljen/hmkonungcarlxvigustaf.4.7c4768101a4e8883780003.html 7 December 1976: Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland and British model Lilian Davies 15 June 1978: King Hussein I of Jordan and American urban planner Lisa Halaby 29 June 1978: Princess Caroline of Monaco and French businessman Philippe Junot 7 November 1980: Prince Tomohito of Mikasa (Japan) and Nobuko Asō 20 July 1983: Princess Elena of Romania and British professor Robin Medforth-Mills 28 July 1983: Princess Antoinette of Monaco and British ballet dancer John Gilpin 4 October 1983: Princess Irina of Romania and John Kreuger, son of Swedish magnate Torsten Kreuger 14 October 1983: Princess Masako of Mikasa (Japan) and Masayuki Sen 29 December 1983: Princess Caroline of Monaco and Italian heir Stefano Casiraghi 1 December 1984: Prince Norihito of Mikasa (Japan) and Hisako Tottori 20 September 1985: Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia and Greek Katherine Batis 1986: King Mswati III of Eswatini and Sibonelo Mngometulu 1986: Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran and Yasmine Etemad-Amini 23 July 1986: Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom and Sarah Ferguson 1987: Prince Andrew Romanoff and Inez Storer 28 February 1987: Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and Peruvian statesman Manuel Ulloa Elías 27 May 1987 Prince Jean of Luxembourg and Hélène Suzanna Vestur 5 December 1987: Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia and Sri Lankan barrister Sir Desmond de Silva 8 July 1988: Princess Tania of Bourbon-Parma and Gilbert Jacques Marcel Bécaud, son of French singer Gilbert Bécaud 1989: Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss and Susan Doukht Jalali 29 June 1990: Fumihito, Prince Aya of Japan and Kiko Kawashima 1991: King Abdullah of Pahang and model and actress Julia Rais 1 July 1992: Prince Mired bin Ra'ad of Jordan and Dina Mohammad Khalifeh 12 December 1992: Princess Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom and Royal Navy officer Timothy Laurence 9 June 1993: Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan and diplomat Masako Owada 10 June 1993: Prince Abdullah of Jordan and Palestine businesswoman Rania Al-Yassin 29 January 1994: Prince Robert of Luxembourg and Julie Elizabeth Houston Ongaro February 1994: Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn of Thailand and Sujarinee Vivacharawongse 1 July 1995: Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece and American heiress Marie-Chantal Miller 1 July 1995: Princess Stéphanie of Monaco and her French bodyguard Daniel Ducruet 4 August 1995: Princess Maria-Pia of Liechtenstein and Austrian banker Max Kothbauer 18 November 1995: Prince Joachim of Denmark and Anglo-Chinese executive Alexandra Manley 24 July 1996: Princess Margareta of Romania and Radu Duda