Before her marriage to Spain's heir apparent, Princess Letizia had followed her father's footsteps into a career in journalism. Her mother is a nurse and a former union representative. Her grandparents' professions included cab driver, mechanic, and radio broadcaster.
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Crown Prince Haakon caused a stir when he married Mette-Marit because, aside from being a single mother, a notorious party girl with ties to Oslo's rave scene. Her father was a small-town tabloid publisher, who had also been convicted of drug-related offenses. But despite the rocky beginning, the Norwegian public has largely laid the princess's past to rest.
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Crown Prince Frederick met Mary at a pub in Sydney, Australia, where the two were attending the 2000 Summer Olympics. Mary and her family had emigrated from Scotland to Tasmania, Australia, where her parents were involved with academics. Her father is a math professor and her mother was an executive assistant at the University of Tasmania.
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Princess Máxima was an investment banker on three continents before she married Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange. She was born to a farmer from Buenos Aires, Argentina who eventually became a local and regional politician. The Prince of Orange first introduced himself as "Alexander" so Máxima wouldn't know he was a royal. Their relationship began two weeks later in New York, where she worked at the time.
Kate was known as "middle class Middleton" among her housemates at St. Andrews in Scotland, where she first met and began dating Prince William. Her parents co-founded a successful costume business, though, once Kate was spotted with William, the British press frequently described her mother as a "former airline attendant."
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