Fascinating American Women Who Captured the Hearts of Royals

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Wallis Simpson (1896-1986) married the former King Edward VIII (1894-1972), who had famously abdicated the British throne for her, in 1937, becoming the Duchess of Windsor. [Source]

Wallis Simpson, later the Duchess of Windsor, was an American socialite whose third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, abdicated his throne to marry her. Wikipedia

The couple went into a lifelong exile as the Duchess and Duke of Windsor and never returned to live in England. [Source]

"Hated by the British establishment, and one half of one of the most scandalous love affairs of the 20th century, Wallis Simpson was, and still remains, a divisive character in British royal history." [Quote Source]

I highly recommend the movie, "W.E."

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"Rita Hayworth The sultry Hayworth was a well-established actress (Gilda, The Lady From Shanghai) by the time she met Prince Aly Khan, the Westernized playboy son of a prominent Muslim leader. The couple married in 1949, and Hayworth began the marriage with a flourish: Her entire trousseau was made up of Dior clothes, known as the New Look, that had caused controversy because of its longer hemline. But this was the third marriage for Hayworth, who didn’t take long to get testy about her husband’s rumored infidelities (he was seen dancing with actress Joan Fontaine in Reno.) By 1953, they were done, and Hayworth refused to let their child, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, be raised as a Muslim. “While I respect the Muslim faith and all other faiths,” Hayworth said, “it is my earnest wish that my daughter be raised as a normal, healthy American girl in the Christian faith.” She won." Written by: [Source] 

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Grace Kelly (1929-1982) married Albert I's great-grandson Prince Rainier III of Monaco (1923-2005) in 1956. [Source]

Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.

After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of 20, Grace Kelly appeared in New York City theatrical productions as well as in more than forty episodes of live drama productions broadcast during the early 1950s Golden Age of Television. In October 1953, with the release of Mogambo, she became a movie star, a status confirmed in 1954 with a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination as well as leading roles in five films, including The Country Girl, in which she gave a deglamorized, Academy Award-winning performance. She retired from acting at 26 to enter upon her duties in Monaco. She and Prince Rainier had three children: Caroline, Albert, and Stéphanie. She also retained her American roots, maintaining dual US and Monégasque citizenships.

She died after suffering a stroke on September 14, 1982, when she lost control of her automobile and crashed. Her daughter, Princess Stéphanie, was in the car with her, and survived the accident. Written by: [Source]

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Hope Cooke (born in 1940) married Palden Thondup Namgyal (1923-1982), the last King of Sikkim (1963-75) in 1963. Sikkim was annexed by India in 1975 and they divorced in 1980. [Source]

"Like Lisa Halaby and the King of Jordan, Hope Cooke and her future husband met by chance. Paldan Thondup Namgyal, Crown Prince of Sikkim, first talked with the widely traveled Cooke in the bar of a hotel in Darjeeling, India. At the time, Sikkim was the smallest country in Asia. In 1963, four years after they met, Cooke and the crown prince married in a Buddhist ceremony. As a result of the marriage, Cooke was dropped from the Social Register. Cooke found no difficulty in transitioning to her adopted country, an accepting place that has a number of peacefully coexisting religions. She and her husband, who became monarch nine months after their marriage, genuinely loved each other. But political difficulties may have contributed to their breakup. In 1975, the monarch was deposed and was put under house arrest for a time. Cooke took the couple’s two children and returned to New York City soon afterward. Eventually, Sikkim became a state of India. Cooke’s former husband died in 1982, and nowadays the last Queen of Sikkim, 70, gives historical tours of New York." Written by: [Source]

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Lisa Halaby (born in 1951) married King Hussein of Jordan (1935-1999) in 1978, becoming Queen Noor. [Source]

Queen Noor of Jordan (Arabic: جلالة الملكة نور‎) (born Lisa Najeeb Halaby; 23 August 1951) is the last wife and widow of King Hussein of Jordan. She was queen consort of Jordan between 1978 and 1999. Since her husband's death in 1999, she has been queen dowager of Jordan. She enjoy the style and title of HM Queen Noor of Jordan.

A United States citizen by birth, and of Syrian, English, and Swedish descent, she acquired Jordanian citizenship and renounced her American citizenship at the time of her marriage. As of 2011, she is president of the United World Colleges movement and an advocate of the anti-nuclear weapons proliferation campaign, Global Zero. Written by: [Source]

"Lisa Najeeb Halaby Halaby’s years as Noor al-Hussein, Queen of Jordan, show just how hard it is to navigate the political and social differences between the United States and a Middle Eastern country. A Princeton graduate with a degree in architecture and urban planning, she took a job with her father, Najeeb Halaby, who had been asked by Jordan to redesign its airline. Through that post, Halaby met Jordan’s King Hussein and married him in 1978. But gaining acceptance in her new country was difficult. Although Halaby renounced her American citizenship and took Islam as her religion when she got married, many people, including fundamentalists, still saw her as too Westernized and didn’t think she was a true Muslim (her father, despite his Syrian background, was Christian). Since Hussein’s death in 1999, Queen Noor, 59, has stayed in the political picture with the title of Queen Dowager. She also travels globally in support of human-rights organizations" Written by: [Source]  

I enjoyed reading her memoir: [Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life]

You can follow her on Twitter: @QueenNoor

To read about more American women who captured the hearts of Royals click: [here] and [here].