Over the years, there have been many members of the royal family who have given up their titles for love, surprising the world.
On January 8, 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan announced their plans to retire senior royals and divide their time between the UK and North America. Although the couple retained their HRH (Highness) title, they were not allowed to use it. Harry and Meghan now live with their children Archie and Lilybert in Montessito, Santa Barbara.
Prince Philip, although a member of the British royal family, actually had to give up his original royal title when he married Princess Elizabeth in 1947. He turned out to be a prince of Greece and Denmark. After marriage, Philip inherited his mother's maiden name, Mountbatten. As a result of his sacrifice, the Queen awarded him titles such as Baron of Greenwich and Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Philip died in April 2021 at the age of 99.
King Edward VIII of England is probably the most famous member of the royal family who abdicated for love. Less than a year after his reign, Edward left London to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson. He said in an official statement: "Without the help and support of the women I love, I find it impossible to take on heavy responsibilities and fulfill my duties as king. ”
Princess Mako of Japan is one of the members of the royal family who recently gave up her original royal title for True Love. As early as 2017, she announced that she would marry the civilian Komuro Kei. However, under Japanese royal law, if her partner does not have a title of nobility, a female member of the royal family must give up her title. In October 2021, Princess Mako married Kei Komuro, and she lost her royal status.
A few years before Princess Mako was forced to relinquish her royal title, there was a Japanese princess, Kiyoko Kiyomiya, the daughter of Emperor Akihito. When she married a commoner, Kuroda Keiki, she gave up her royal title and changed her name to Kiyoko Kuroda.
When Prince Orange-Frisso of Nassau of the Dutch royal family married Mebal in 2004, he did not receive formal approval from the Dutch parliament, so he relinquished his right to inherit the throne. But until his death after an avalanche in 2013, Friso and his family were still considered members of the royal family.
King Carol II of the Kingdom of Romania was forced to renounce his original royal title several times: once in August 1918, when Carol, who was serving in the army, fell in love with the daughter of an officer and eloped with a woman named Ziz Lampolina, fled to Russia, where she secretly married. The second time in 1925 he had an affair with Elena, the ex-wife of a Romanian officer, and eloped with his lover Elena to Paris— once again giving up the throne for a woman. The third was in 1940 when Carol II and his mistress Elena were forced to abdicate and go into exile in South America on a special train filled with royal belongings.