Love is in the heir(s)! From William and Kate to Felipe and Letizia of Spain, we recall the times that royal couples broke protocol to share looks of heartwarming affection…
Some royals never disappoint when it comes to public displays of affection.
Zara and husband Mike Tindall, for example, seem completely unabashed.
Others, particularly the front line royals, do their very best to remain professional.
Yet they, too, can’t help but show their feelings with an endearing look or two – to the delight royal watchers, as these pictures show…
Zara and Mike Tindall
Zara and Mike Tindall put on a typically romantic display during a recent trip to Paris.
The pair were happy to smile for the camera at Paris’ Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, with Mike, 44, seemingly unable to take his eyes off his gorgeous wife.
In the sweet photograph, shared by Zara’s stylist Annie Miall, Mike seems unable to take his eyes off his wife at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
The sporting-loving pair met during England’s Rugby World Cup-winning campaign in Australia in 2003, having been introduced by Prince Harry. They announced their engagement in 2010 and were married a year later on July 30, 2011.
Prince William and Princess Kate of Wales
Kate Middleton and Prince William met during their first year at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2001 and the adoring looks have continued since then.
William and Kate announced their engagement publicly in November 2010 after the royal proposed to his long-term girlfriend in Kenya.
Catherine and William at The Earthshot Prize in Boston, Massachusetts in December 2022
And less than a year later, fans from all around the world watched their fairytale royal wedding at Westminster Abbey in April 2011.
Today, the Prince and Princess of Wales share three children: Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip
Princess Elizabeth was eight when she met 13-year-old Philip, Prince of Greece and Denmark, at Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina’s wedding in 1934.
However, it was at Dartmouth when the Princess visited the naval college in July 1939 that Philip, then 18, and Elizabeth, then 13, began to fall for one another.
Princess Elizabeth and fiance Philip Mountbatten at Buckingham Palace after their engagement was announced in July 1947
They maintained regular correspondence and became pen pals while Philip was stationed around Europe, Canada and Japan throughout the Second World War.
Shortly after his return to the UK, Prince Philip visited Princess Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, to ask for his eldest daughter’s hand in marriage. And while some disapproved of the match, Philip and Elizabeth were already in love.
This never appeared to dim over the span of their 73-year marriage, as seen through their affectionate gazes shared over the decades.
King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain
Before marrying King Felipe of Spain, 55, Queen Letizia, 50, worked as a journalist and news presenter.
The royal couple first fell in love after meeting at the site of an oil spillage in Northern Spain. Just a year later, Letizia quit her job and a few days later their engagement was announced.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain lood head over heels at a journalism awards ceremony in July
Her engagement to Felipe came as a surprise to many throughout Spain as the couple had maintained a low-profile romance for several months before announcing their news.
The Spanish royals now share two daughters and have been married for 19 years.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands
Maxima Zorreguieta met her future husband Prince Willem-Alexander while on holiday in Seville, Spain, back in April 1999.
During their chance encounter, the future King decided to keep his royalty a secret, not disclosing to Maxima he was a prince until later on. When he declared his royal status, she thought it was a joke.
Married couple King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands on day one of Royal Ascot in 2019
There was initial disquiet about the match in Holland as Maxima’s father had connections with Argentina’s junta.
But over two decades of marriage and three beautiful daughters, later, that controversy seems far behind them.
Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
Before she became the Crown Princess of Denmark, she was plain Mary Donaldson from Australia, the daughter of two Scottish immigrants and marketing manager at an advertising company.
And she met Crown Prince Frederik on September at the pub – the the Slip Inn in Sydney – during the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Danish Crown princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik share a romantic glance in Tokyo in March 2015
Mary said she ‘never dreamed of becoming a princess, I wanted to be a veterinarian,’ and did not know who the man who introduced himself as ‘Fred’ was at first.
The couple embarked upon a long-distance relationship and before the engagement was made official with a press conference in Copenhagen in October 2003.
Today, they are are parents to Prince Christian, 17, Princess Isabella, 16, and 12-year-old twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and Princess Sofia, Duchess of Värmland
It is not entirely known how the pair met, but it is understood Sofia crossed paths with the Prince, whose oldest sister Crown Princess Victoria is heir to the throne, in a nightclub in Stockholm.
Nine months after their relationship was made public, the couple moved into the Djurgården of Stockholm, where they still live in the Villa Solbacken.
Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia at the christening of Prince Alexander of Sweden at Drottningholm Palace Chapel in September 2016
Sofia’s engagement to Prince Carl was announced on June 27 2014, and the couple were married at the Royal Chapel on June 13, 2015.
After their relationship was announced, however, Sofia faced a public backlash because of her past life working as a glamour model.
But since then, she has become a valuable member of the royal family and in 2016, the couple’s first son Prince Alexander, six, was born followed by their second son Prince Gabriel, five, in 2017 and their youngest Prince Julian.
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium
King Philippe said about their first meeting: ‘I saw her [Mathilde] from far, and I went to talk to her. I knew right away that she would be my future wife.’
A couple of months later, on December 4, 1999, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde married in a civil followed by a religious ceremony at the heart of Brussels.
Philippe of Belgium and Queen Mathilde during a visit to Greece in May 2022
While at the beginning of their relationship, their romance was kept under wraps, today there is no hiding their affection with their abundance of romantic glances.
Today, the couple have four children: Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Prince Gabriël, Prince Emmanuel and Princess Eléonore.
King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan
The pair were introduced at a colleague’s dinner party in 1992 and were engaged six months later before exchanging vows on June 10, 1993.
Their lavish ceremony took place at the Zahran Palace in Amman and it made such an impact that it was named a national holiday.
Jordanian King Abdullah II & Queen Rania gaze lovingly
Later, the pair became parents to Crown Prince Hussein, 28, Princess Iman, 26, Princess Salma, 22, and Prince Hashem, 18.
It has been a whirlwind romance for King Abdullah and Queen Rania, who were married within a year of meeting, but the pair still share as much love thirty years later.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
It is thought that Harry and Meghan met for the first time at Soho House’s Dean Street Townhouse London in the summer of 2016 after being set up by a mutual friend after Harry saw the actress in one of their Instagram posts.
A mere months later in August, Harry whisked Meghan away for their third date to Botswana, where the pair camped under the stars.
Basking in their love bubble, Prince Harry posed with Meghan Markle during a photocall after announcing their engagement in November 2017
The couple’s relationship became official on November 8 of the same year when Harry issued a lengthy appeal to the media on behalf of his girlfriend.
Their royal engagement was announced on November 27, 2017, after Harry proposed to Meghan with a custom design featuring a diamond from Botswana and two stones from his late mother Princess Diana’s collection.
On May 19, 2018, Harry and Meghan tied the knot in a fairytale wedding at St George’s Chapel. The pair soon welcomed their firstborn, Archie Harrison in May 2019, and two years later, their daughter Lilibet Diana was born in June.
Today Harry, Meghan and their two children live in Montecito, California, and appear as loved up now as they did seven years ago.
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
It is believed that the pair first met in September 2018, shortly before Beatrice’s sister Eugenie got married.
Beatrice announced her engagement to Edo in September 2019, just 11 months after the couple first started dating, after he proposed to the princess in Italy.
Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi joined other royals at Westminster Abbey for the carol service in 2021
They had intended to marry at the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace in May 2020 but were forced to postpone because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead, they opted for a small wedding at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor on July 17, 2020.
They welcomed their first child, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, in September 2021, and are rumoured to be considering expanding their family soon.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank first met during a 2010 ski trip in Verbier, Switzerland. Princess Eugenie said it was ‘love at first sight’.
‘We met when I was 20, he was 24,’ she later said. ‘[We] fell in love. We have the same passions and drive for life.’
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank share a moment at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in front of Buckingham Palace, on day four of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, in June 2022
From 2013 to 2015, the couple were in a long-distance relationship while Eugenie lived in New York City and worked for the online auction house Paddle8.
Following her return to the United Kingdom, Brooksbank proposed during a January 2018 vacation to Nicaragua. They tied the knot on October 12, 2018, in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The Princess and her husband welcomed their first child, a son named August, in February 2021, with their second, Ernest, arriving in May this year.
Pierre Casiraghi of Monaco and Beatrice Borromeo
Beatrice Borromeo fell in love with Pierre Casiraghi, the youngest child of Princess Caroline and grandson of the late Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly, while the two were college students in Milan
In 2015, they married in a civil ceremony in the gardens of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco, followed by a religious ceremony in Italy a few days later.
Beatrice Borromeo and Pierre Casiraghi were snapped gazing affectionately at the Rose Ball in Monte Carlo in March 2019
Beatrice opened up about her relationship in an interview with Vanity Fair España.
‘Sometimes I think about how lucky I am to have created a real family with someone I trust completely, that we have been in love for almost 10 years and that I know it will last a lifetime,’ she said.
She and Pierre have since become parents to two sons, Stefano, five, and Francesco, four.
Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
The story of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit shows that love can conquer all – or many things, at least.
Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon and Mette-Marit at their wedding in August 2001
Mette-Marit was a single mother when their paths crossed with Haakon. Despite an initial public backlash their engagement went ahead – leading to a royal wedding in August 2001.
After having two children together, Prince Sverre Magnus and Princess Ingrid Alexandra, they are now a family of five – including her son Marius, whom Haakon has brought up as his own.
