Mary Donaldson
Old Life: Australian lawyer
Royal Life: Queen of Denmark
You can't get farther from the palaces of Europe than the remote places of Australia. But that's where Donaldson, 31, grew up, in a small home in Taroona on the island of Tasmania. The daughter of a college professor and a university vice-chancellor2, she moved to Sydney to pursue a law career and met Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik, 35, at a disco during the 2000 Olympics. Within a year Donaldson had moved to Copenhagen to be near her love, trading the courtroom for classes in protocol3 to fit in with4 one of Europe's oldest royal families. But as her May wedding approaches, Donaldson insists she is still an average Australian girl at heart, telling reporters she watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana on TV as a kid but wasn't impressed. “I wasn't thinking about becoming a princess,” she said. “I actually dreamt of becoming an animal doctor.”
Letizia Ortiz
Old Life: TV journalist
Royal Life: Future Queen of Spain
Her mother is a nurse and her father a newspaper reporter, but Ortiz, 31, doesn't let her fiancé５ Crown Prince Felipe of Spain, control her actions. When Felipe, 35, interrupted her during a press conference to announce their engagement, she grabbed his arm and said: “Let me finish!” Introduced by friends at a dinner party last spring, the couple kept their love a secret until last autumn and decided marry in May. Though she has been married before to a college professor, that wedding was a civil ceremony, so she and Felipe can still have the church wedding his conservative Catholic6 parents want. “It's like a fairy tale,” says Ana Campillo, a journalist who knows Ortiz. “Not because she is marrying a prince but because she is marrying a man she loves.”
Claire Coombs
Old Life: Land surveyor
Royal Life: Belgian princess
For years most Belgians assumed that Laurent, 40, the youngest son of King AlbertⅡand Queen Paola and eighth in line to his country's throne, would never marry, preferring fast cars to settling down. But after a Brussels dinner party in 2000, the prince decided to help with the dishes and wound up washing7 and drying with fellow guest Coombs, 29, the softspoken8 daughter of a British businessman and a Belgian mother. When the prince proposed two years later, he flushed so red with nervousness that Coombs, who worked at a surveyor's office in Wavre, Belgium, until her April 2003 wedding, burst out laughing9. Since then, the pair have avoided the media. Family and friends give Claire credit for slowing Laurent down10.
A Prince Makes a Sacrifice for Love
Not all fairy tales are the same. Last year, when Prince Johan Friso, 35, third in line for the throne of the Netherlands11, announced his engagement to Mabel Wisse Smit, 35, the head of a Brussels-based human rights organization, his mother, Queen Beatrix, was very happy to be gaining a “l(fā)ovable and talented” daughter-in-law. That is, until the media uncovered Wisse Smit's past relationship with a drug lord, which she had kept from the Dutch parliament, whose members must approve highranking royal marriages, rather than call off the wedding, Johna Friso gave up his right to the throne and weded Wisse Smit in a quiet April ceremony.
Ari Behn
Old Life: Author
Royal Life: Consort12 of Princess Martha Louise of Norway
Royalty marrying common people is old news in liberal Norway, where Crown Prince Haakon wed single mom Mette-marit Tjessem Hoiby in 2001. So it was no shock to the Norwegian royals when Princess Martha, 32, announced her engagement to former playboy Behn, an author. Martha, who met Behn through his mother, one of her college tutors, didn't mind. “He makes me shine,” she said. Since their 2002 wedding, Behn has settled down, becoming a proud papa to baby Maud Angelica. King Harald said, “Who hasn't done one or two bad things in their youth?”
Cinderella Stories現(xiàn)代版灰姑娘
瑪麗-唐納森
平民身份：澳大利亞律師
王室身份：丹麥王妃
從歐洲宮廷到澳大利亞偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)，這距離夠遠(yuǎn)的吧。但31歲的瑪麗-唐納森就是在澳大利亞南端塔斯馬尼亞島塔魯納長大的。作為大學(xué)教授和大學(xué)副校長的女兒，她后來到悉尼從事律師職業(yè)，并在2000年悉尼奧運(yùn)會期間的一個迪斯科舞會上結(jié)識了35歲的丹麥王儲弗里德里克王子。隨后一年內(nèi)，唐納森去了哥本哈根，與心上人相聚，為適應(yīng)歐洲古老的王室生活，她離開了法庭而走進(jìn)了宮廷禮儀的課堂。五月婚典臨近時，唐納森卻說，心底深處，她依然是一個普通的澳大利亞女孩兒，并告訴記者她小時候就在電視上看過查爾斯王子和戴安娜的婚禮，不過也沒什么印象。她說：“我沒想過要做王妃，而是想做一個獸醫(yī)?！?BR> 蕾蒂西亞-奧蒂茲
平民身份：電視新聞記者
王室身份：未來西班牙王后
蕾蒂西亞-奧蒂茲的母親是位護(hù)士，父親是名報社記者。她今年31歲，才不會讓未婚夫、 35歲的西班牙王儲菲利普王子管束她的行為呢。在宣布他們訂婚的記者招待會上，菲利普插了一句話，她抓住他的胳膊說：“讓我說完！”他們是頭年春天在宴會上經(jīng)朋友介紹相識的，愛情的秘密一直保持到去年秋天，他們定于五月完婚。她曾與一位大學(xué)教授有過一段婚姻，那次婚禮是次民俗儀式。所以這根據(jù)菲利普信奉天主教的保守父母的旨意，她和菲利普要舉行教堂婚禮。熟悉奧蒂茲的記者阿娜-卡皮諾說：“這簡直就像是童話故事。我不是說她嫁了王子，而是說，她嫁給了心中所愛的男子?！?BR> 克萊爾-庫卜斯
平民身份：土地測量員
王室身份：比利時王妃
多年來，大多數(shù)比利時人一直認(rèn)為，國王阿爾伯特二世和寶拉王后小的兒子，40歲的勞倫特是不會結(jié)婚的。這位排序第8的王位繼承人，喜愛賽車勝過安家度日。2000年，在布魯塞爾宴會之后，王子決定幫忙收拾盤子，結(jié)果和另一位應(yīng)邀而來的客人，29歲的庫卜斯一起又是洗又是擦。庫卜斯說話斯文秀氣，父親是位英國商人，母親是比利時人。兩年后王子向克萊爾求婚時，緊張得滿臉通紅，倒把克萊爾弄得撲哧笑起來?？巳R爾在比利時瓦富爾土地測量所工作，直到2003年4月結(jié)婚。從那以后，兩口子一直回避著新聞媒體。家人和朋友都夸克萊爾，說是她讓勞倫特消停下來的。
不愛江山愛美人
并非所有的童話故事都是一樣的。去年，35歲的荷蘭王子約翰-弗里索(排序第三的王位繼承人)宣布與設(shè)在布魯塞爾的人權(quán)組織負(fù)責(zé)人，同樣35歲的馬伯爾-維斯-斯密特訂婚時，他的母親，貝阿特里斯王后十分高興自己有了一個“可愛而有才華的”兒媳。不過這是在媒體披露維斯-斯密特過去曾與一個毒品大王有過關(guān)系之前。而這一點(diǎn)她一直瞞著荷蘭議會，因?yàn)樽h會成員必須批準(zhǔn)而不是取消重大的王室婚事。消息披露之后，約翰-弗里索放棄了王位繼承權(quán)，并與維斯-斯密特在4月悄悄舉行了婚禮。
阿里-貝恩
貧民身份：作家
王室身份：挪威瑪薩-路易絲公主丈夫
在開明的挪威，王室成員嫁娶平民，不是什么新聞。2001年，王儲哈肯王子就娶了單身母親麥特-瑪麗特-杰森-霍比。所以，32歲的瑪薩公主宣布她與前花花公子兼作家阿里-貝恩訂婚時，挪威王室成員并不震驚?，斔_是通過貝恩的母親認(rèn)識貝恩的，她是瑪薩的大學(xué)老師?，斔_倒不介意他以前的作派。她說：“他讓我光彩照人?！彼麄?002年結(jié)婚以后，貝恩安頓了下來，成了自豪的父親，寶寶叫默德-安吉利卡。連哈拉德國王都說：“誰年輕時沒干過一兩件荒唐事？”
Old Life: Australian lawyer
Royal Life: Queen of Denmark
You can't get farther from the palaces of Europe than the remote places of Australia. But that's where Donaldson, 31, grew up, in a small home in Taroona on the island of Tasmania. The daughter of a college professor and a university vice-chancellor2, she moved to Sydney to pursue a law career and met Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik, 35, at a disco during the 2000 Olympics. Within a year Donaldson had moved to Copenhagen to be near her love, trading the courtroom for classes in protocol3 to fit in with4 one of Europe's oldest royal families. But as her May wedding approaches, Donaldson insists she is still an average Australian girl at heart, telling reporters she watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana on TV as a kid but wasn't impressed. “I wasn't thinking about becoming a princess,” she said. “I actually dreamt of becoming an animal doctor.”
Letizia Ortiz
Old Life: TV journalist
Royal Life: Future Queen of Spain
Her mother is a nurse and her father a newspaper reporter, but Ortiz, 31, doesn't let her fiancé５ Crown Prince Felipe of Spain, control her actions. When Felipe, 35, interrupted her during a press conference to announce their engagement, she grabbed his arm and said: “Let me finish!” Introduced by friends at a dinner party last spring, the couple kept their love a secret until last autumn and decided marry in May. Though she has been married before to a college professor, that wedding was a civil ceremony, so she and Felipe can still have the church wedding his conservative Catholic6 parents want. “It's like a fairy tale,” says Ana Campillo, a journalist who knows Ortiz. “Not because she is marrying a prince but because she is marrying a man she loves.”
Claire Coombs
Old Life: Land surveyor
Royal Life: Belgian princess
For years most Belgians assumed that Laurent, 40, the youngest son of King AlbertⅡand Queen Paola and eighth in line to his country's throne, would never marry, preferring fast cars to settling down. But after a Brussels dinner party in 2000, the prince decided to help with the dishes and wound up washing7 and drying with fellow guest Coombs, 29, the softspoken8 daughter of a British businessman and a Belgian mother. When the prince proposed two years later, he flushed so red with nervousness that Coombs, who worked at a surveyor's office in Wavre, Belgium, until her April 2003 wedding, burst out laughing9. Since then, the pair have avoided the media. Family and friends give Claire credit for slowing Laurent down10.
A Prince Makes a Sacrifice for Love
Not all fairy tales are the same. Last year, when Prince Johan Friso, 35, third in line for the throne of the Netherlands11, announced his engagement to Mabel Wisse Smit, 35, the head of a Brussels-based human rights organization, his mother, Queen Beatrix, was very happy to be gaining a “l(fā)ovable and talented” daughter-in-law. That is, until the media uncovered Wisse Smit's past relationship with a drug lord, which she had kept from the Dutch parliament, whose members must approve highranking royal marriages, rather than call off the wedding, Johna Friso gave up his right to the throne and weded Wisse Smit in a quiet April ceremony.
Ari Behn
Old Life: Author
Royal Life: Consort12 of Princess Martha Louise of Norway
Royalty marrying common people is old news in liberal Norway, where Crown Prince Haakon wed single mom Mette-marit Tjessem Hoiby in 2001. So it was no shock to the Norwegian royals when Princess Martha, 32, announced her engagement to former playboy Behn, an author. Martha, who met Behn through his mother, one of her college tutors, didn't mind. “He makes me shine,” she said. Since their 2002 wedding, Behn has settled down, becoming a proud papa to baby Maud Angelica. King Harald said, “Who hasn't done one or two bad things in their youth?”
Cinderella Stories現(xiàn)代版灰姑娘
瑪麗-唐納森
平民身份：澳大利亞律師
王室身份：丹麥王妃
從歐洲宮廷到澳大利亞偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)，這距離夠遠(yuǎn)的吧。但31歲的瑪麗-唐納森就是在澳大利亞南端塔斯馬尼亞島塔魯納長大的。作為大學(xué)教授和大學(xué)副校長的女兒，她后來到悉尼從事律師職業(yè)，并在2000年悉尼奧運(yùn)會期間的一個迪斯科舞會上結(jié)識了35歲的丹麥王儲弗里德里克王子。隨后一年內(nèi)，唐納森去了哥本哈根，與心上人相聚，為適應(yīng)歐洲古老的王室生活，她離開了法庭而走進(jìn)了宮廷禮儀的課堂。五月婚典臨近時，唐納森卻說，心底深處，她依然是一個普通的澳大利亞女孩兒，并告訴記者她小時候就在電視上看過查爾斯王子和戴安娜的婚禮，不過也沒什么印象。她說：“我沒想過要做王妃，而是想做一個獸醫(yī)?！?BR> 蕾蒂西亞-奧蒂茲
平民身份：電視新聞記者
王室身份：未來西班牙王后
蕾蒂西亞-奧蒂茲的母親是位護(hù)士，父親是名報社記者。她今年31歲，才不會讓未婚夫、 35歲的西班牙王儲菲利普王子管束她的行為呢。在宣布他們訂婚的記者招待會上，菲利普插了一句話，她抓住他的胳膊說：“讓我說完！”他們是頭年春天在宴會上經(jīng)朋友介紹相識的，愛情的秘密一直保持到去年秋天，他們定于五月完婚。她曾與一位大學(xué)教授有過一段婚姻，那次婚禮是次民俗儀式。所以這根據(jù)菲利普信奉天主教的保守父母的旨意，她和菲利普要舉行教堂婚禮。熟悉奧蒂茲的記者阿娜-卡皮諾說：“這簡直就像是童話故事。我不是說她嫁了王子，而是說，她嫁給了心中所愛的男子?！?BR> 克萊爾-庫卜斯
平民身份：土地測量員
王室身份：比利時王妃
多年來，大多數(shù)比利時人一直認(rèn)為，國王阿爾伯特二世和寶拉王后小的兒子，40歲的勞倫特是不會結(jié)婚的。這位排序第8的王位繼承人，喜愛賽車勝過安家度日。2000年，在布魯塞爾宴會之后，王子決定幫忙收拾盤子，結(jié)果和另一位應(yīng)邀而來的客人，29歲的庫卜斯一起又是洗又是擦。庫卜斯說話斯文秀氣，父親是位英國商人，母親是比利時人。兩年后王子向克萊爾求婚時，緊張得滿臉通紅，倒把克萊爾弄得撲哧笑起來?？巳R爾在比利時瓦富爾土地測量所工作，直到2003年4月結(jié)婚。從那以后，兩口子一直回避著新聞媒體。家人和朋友都夸克萊爾，說是她讓勞倫特消停下來的。
不愛江山愛美人
并非所有的童話故事都是一樣的。去年，35歲的荷蘭王子約翰-弗里索(排序第三的王位繼承人)宣布與設(shè)在布魯塞爾的人權(quán)組織負(fù)責(zé)人，同樣35歲的馬伯爾-維斯-斯密特訂婚時，他的母親，貝阿特里斯王后十分高興自己有了一個“可愛而有才華的”兒媳。不過這是在媒體披露維斯-斯密特過去曾與一個毒品大王有過關(guān)系之前。而這一點(diǎn)她一直瞞著荷蘭議會，因?yàn)樽h會成員必須批準(zhǔn)而不是取消重大的王室婚事。消息披露之后，約翰-弗里索放棄了王位繼承權(quán)，并與維斯-斯密特在4月悄悄舉行了婚禮。
阿里-貝恩
貧民身份：作家
王室身份：挪威瑪薩-路易絲公主丈夫
在開明的挪威，王室成員嫁娶平民，不是什么新聞。2001年，王儲哈肯王子就娶了單身母親麥特-瑪麗特-杰森-霍比。所以，32歲的瑪薩公主宣布她與前花花公子兼作家阿里-貝恩訂婚時，挪威王室成員并不震驚?，斔_是通過貝恩的母親認(rèn)識貝恩的，她是瑪薩的大學(xué)老師?，斔_倒不介意他以前的作派。她說：“他讓我光彩照人?！彼麄?002年結(jié)婚以后，貝恩安頓了下來，成了自豪的父親，寶寶叫默德-安吉利卡。連哈拉德國王都說：“誰年輕時沒干過一兩件荒唐事？”