Love Among the Royals

Royals don't get engaged like the rest of us. There may be a ring in the champagne glass or a private beachfront proposal, but there's also the media speculation and the amplified attention of an entire country, and formal events and photo shoots. Now that Prince William and Kate Middleton have finally announced they will marry after an eight-year, up-and-down romance, the frenzy begins in earnest. As with previous royal couples, the pair will face wedding planning the likes of which we mortals can't even imagine. Traditionally, such couples first have an investiture at Buckingham Palace, then the lord chancellor announces the pair's status to the public, which then leads to a flurry of media appearances and interviews. William and Kate, who will wed in the next few months, join a long line of Windsor couples with big engagements, and their wedding will be the biggest since Charles and Diana's. Here's a look at some of the most memorable royal betrothals. 

Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

In 1839 Queen Victoria proposed to Albert, her first cousin and son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. It was only the second time they had met, and because she was queen, she had to do the asking. The next year, in February 1840, Victoria and Albert married. The wedding was an elaborate occasion. The queen's white satin dress was unusual and lavish, and marked the beginning of the "white wedding" trend that is now commonplace in the West.

King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson

King Edward VIII (pictured left) famously abdicated the throne in December 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcée. At the time, the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, said neither the British public nor the king's ministers would accept Simpson as the queen of England. The pair first met in 1931 at a house party while Simpson was still married to her second husband. Their affair began shortly after. Despite Baldwin's disapproval, Edward hoped the British government and the Dominions (Canada, Australia, etc.) would approve a morganatic marriage, wherein he could be king but Simpson would not be queen. When that didn't happen, he relinquished his title. After Simpson's second divorce became final in 1937, Edward and Simpson married.

Queen Elizabeth II and Philip Mountbatten

Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten—born Prince Philip Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, prince of Greece and Denmark in Corfu—first met at the Royal Naval College when Elizabeth was only 13: naval officer Philip gave her a tour. Reportedly, Elizabeth carried a torch for him from that time. They were secretly engaged in 1946, but Elizabeth's father, King George VI, didn't approve the pairing until 1947, at which point the engagement was formally announced. (Philip agreed to renounced his Greek ties and converted to the Church of England.) They were married in November of that year. The wedding was broadcast live over radio and, later that day, on television. Two months before being crowned queen following the death of her father, Elizabeth declared that she, her children, and their descendants would be known as the House and Family of Windsor. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip celebrate their 63rd anniversary this month.

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew

Sarah Ferguson, the daughter of Prince Charles's polo manager, first met Prince Andrew when they were both children. Prince Andrew proposed to her in 1986, on the same day they shared their first kiss. The two wed soon afterward, on July 23, 1986. Some 2,000 guests attended, and 500 million more people watched the wedding on TV. A crowd of 100,000 gathered along London's streets outside Westminster Abbey to watch the couple kiss as husband and wife.

Diana Spencer and Prince Charles

As a child growing up on the Park House estate that her parents rented from Queen Elizabeth II, Lady Diana Spencer reportedly played with Prince Edward and Prince Andrew. In 1977 her sister—Edward's former flame—introduced Diana and Charles, and in 1980 they began dating. He proposed a year later, and the engagement was announced on Feb. 24, 1981. Prince Charles and Lady Diana married in St. Paul's Church on July 29, 1981. The traditional royal wedding netted 750 million television viewers; 600,000 crowded the streets of London as their carriage passed through the city. Princess Diana went on to become perhaps the most famous and popular member of the royal family.

Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones

Edward, the youngest of Elizabeth II's three sons, and Rhys-Jones married on June 9, 1999. Upon their marriage, the prince was granted the dual titles of Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn, and Sophie was given the title of Her Royal Highness the Countess of Wessex. A historian later described the title as "fiction," noting that Wessex is not an actual place.

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles are pictured here on the evening of their official engagement Feb. 10, 2005. After a 35-year acquaintance—including a previous affair they shared while Charles was still married to Princess Diana—the two finally married in 2005. Camilla's great-grandmother was Prince Charles's great-great-grandfather's mistress. Despite their tumultuous and controversial history—Camilla was long scorned as "the other woman"— 20,000 onlookers cheered the couple as they said their vows at Windsor Guildhall in 2005.

Prince William and Kate Middleton

Having now been together for eight years, off and on, Prince William and Kate Middleton, both 28, have long been on the royal watchers' list as the next up-and-coming royals to wed. Kate, the daughter of an airline pilot and a flight attendant, would be the first non-blueblood to be in line for queen—and the first to have graduated from college. The pair met at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and began dating in 2003. Ever since, the date of their engagement has been a source of speculation. One enterprising vendor even went so far as to print plates for an upcoming engagement date. The couple actually became engaged in October, according to the official announcement by Prince Charles. The wedding will be next year, in the spring or summer.