Royal families are recognised for their opulent lives, long-standing prestige, and large fortunes all throughout the world. This level of luxury and extravagance is not something that many people would turn down. Several royals have, however, given up their royal wealth or titles in the past for bizarre reasons.
Many members of the royal family have succumbed to the power of love and freedom all across the world. They have followed their hearts and passed up enormous possibilities and opulence in order to follow their hearts. However, there are a few royals that did so for unexpected reasons.
#1- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (United Kingdom)
After dropping a few hints, the couple ultimately announced in January 2020 that they will no longer be working royals. With the queen’s blessing, they eventually left their senior positions and relocated to California with their son Archie later that year. Harry, on the other hand, is still a prince, and the couple’s titles of Duke and Duchess have not changed. We don’t know how long they’ll be there, as they were only identified by their first names in a statement released by Buckingham Palace following their Oprah appearance.
#2- King Edward VIII (United Kingdom)
King Edward VIII abdicated the monarchy in 1936 so that he could marry Wallis Simpson, a two-time divorcee. The Church of England was against remarriage following divorce at the time. Because he was the head of the church, Edward opted to abdicate his throne and hand it over to his younger brother, George VI. Edward was eventually given the title Duke of Windsor as a substitute title.
#3- Princess Ubol Ratana (Thailand)
Princess Ubol Ratana, daughter of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, had to give up her title of Her Royal Highness in order to marry commoner Peter Ladd Jensen. Jensen and she met while studying at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts, and they married in 1972. Even after her divorce in 1998 and return to Thailand in 2001, she was not given her titles back. “Tunkramom Ying,” which means “Daughter of the Queen Regent,” is her new moniker.
#4- Princess Sayako (Japan)
Princess Nori Sayako, daughter of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko, gave up her rank in 2005 to marry commoner Yoshiki Kuroda. She also gave up her membership in the royal family and her State allowance in exchange for the title. She adopted her husband’s surname after the marriage.
She isn’t the only Japanese princess who has given up her imperial title in exchange for a non-royal marriage. Princess Ayako, daughter of Prince Takamado Norihito and Hisako, Princess Takamado, married Kei Moriya in October 2018 and left the royal family.
#5- Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (Greece and Denmark)
Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark had to give up his claims to the thrones of both nations in order to marry Elizabeth, the daughter of British King George VI. Philip was named the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich before their wedding in November 1947, and he was given the title His Royal Highness. When Elizabeth was crowned Queen in 1952, he became a British prince.
#6- Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands)
In 2004, Prince Friso, Queen Beatrix’s second son, abdicated his claim to the throne in order to marry Mabel Wisse Smit, which he did without the approval of the Dutch Parliament. Wisse Smit’s association with drug baron Klaas Bruinsma during her undergraduate years was kept a secret by the marriage. Because of this “breach of trust,” then-Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that he would not propose a measure in Parliament that would allow her to join the royal family. However, she was a member of the royal family.
#7- Princess Märtha (Norway)
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, the daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja, declared in an Instagram post in August 2019 that she will no longer use her princess title in a commercial setting and will instead go by Märtha Louise. She was chastised for naming her tour ‘The Princess and the Shaman,’ after her partner, Shaman Durek Verret.
She also stated that they have “jointly came to the conclusion that I use the term princess when I represent the Royal House, conduct my official tasks at home and abroad, and in private circumstances” after discussions with the family. Märtha is the fourth in line for the throne.
Sources: Prestige, Cosmopolitan, Times of India