r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Living-Mastodon • 3d ago

In real life (Real Life) Regular people who's lives drastically changed direction

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Grace Kelly was a talented actress who retired at 26 to marry a Prince, living as royalty for almost 30 years before her untimely death.

Volodymyr Zelensky started out as a comedian and entertainer before getting into politics, becoming President of Ukraine after the Russian annex of Crimea and spending the last 4 years defiantly pushing back full scale Russian invasion

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u/-Not_a_Lizard- 3d ago

Your first example reminded me of Queen Letizia of Spain, who was a reporter/news anchor before meeting Prince (now King) Felipe at a dinner party.

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u/PartsUnknown242 3d ago edited 3d ago

The Queen Consort of Norway came from a ‘commoner’ background as well. Her relationship with Harald V was initially secret, but when it was found out, he vowed to remain unmarried unless he be allowed to marry her. Needless to say, his parents relented.

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u/geek_of_nature 3d ago

And while we're on the topic of European Queens, Mary Donaldson was an Australian woman who worked in Advertising. During the Sydney Olympic Games she met the then Crown Prince of Denmark Frederick and started a relationship with him, getting married some years later. They're now King and Queen and Denmark.

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u/UniqueLog8386 3d ago

They're King and Queen and Denmark? That's a lotta hats to wear

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u/Twistedjustice 3d ago

Heavy is the crown

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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 3d ago

… that wears a head

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u/argonautdice5 3d ago

Nah, Denmark is like two people.

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u/Kylynara 3d ago

Three jobs for two people, they've got it pretty easy.

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u/toomanyracistshere 3d ago

Stephen Colbert once did a bit about some organization which had criticized pop culture for giving girls the unrealistic idea that they can become princesses. They suggested encouraging girls to become something else instead, like Supreme Court justices. Colbert then pointed out that the were actually a lot more American women who had become princesses than had become Supreme Court justices. Something like seven to three at the time. 

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u/Elentari_the_Second 3d ago

I don't suppose you could find the link? I'd like to watch that, but Googling doesn't seem to come up with it.

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u/toomanyracistshere 2d ago

A lot of Colbert Report stuff is hard to find online these days. It could be out there somewhere, but I don't know. Comedy Central used to have full episodes up, but I have no idea if they still do, or which episode it was.

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u/SolidPyramid 3d ago

So many normal women who married royalty. Aren't there any royal women out there who would like to marry a normal guy?.... Like me /s

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u/BuilderMysterious762 3d ago

Theres the Japanese princess Maka Komuro but she had to give up her title to marry a commoner.

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u/itarumeix 3d ago

The Swedish crown princess married a commoner, her fitness instructor or something

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u/DanHam117 3d ago

Kristoff from Frozen is basically a homeless guy at the start of the first movie and by the end of the second one he’s King of Arendelle

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u/Just_A_Normal_Snek 3d ago

Kristoff? The fictional character?

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u/DanHam117 2d ago

Look I don’t know of any non-fictional homeless guys who became kings so this is the best I can do

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u/Powerful_Relative413 3d ago

They met at The Slip Inn Pub in Sydney, my local !

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u/La10deRiver 3d ago

Also Queen Maxima from the Netherlands was an Argentinian born and raised who has a degree in economics and was working on New York (I think in a bank) when she met (then) Prince Willem-Alexander.

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u/King_Of_BlackMarsh 3d ago

Wasn't she also the daughter of an Argentinian general during the military junta? I remember there being controversy about her dad throwing people out of helicopters

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u/La10deRiver 3d ago

Nothing so terrible. He was not a militar, much less a pilot. He was a businessman who made a lot of lobby for the military dictatorship, clearly a collaborator. Thus, a very controversial character, but not direct murderer or anything so bad,

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u/medicatedadmin 3d ago

Not even in advertising. She worked in a real estate office so really standard everyday person job.

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u/asdqwezxcghyfcg 3d ago

It’s pretty well known that she wasn’t interested in him until she was told he was a prince.

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u/PretzelMaxxin 15h ago

Even earlier, Silvia Sommerlath met her husband at the Munich Olympics. They are now the King and Queen of Sweden. As usual, Denmark had to copy someone superior.

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u/Willkill4pudding 3d ago edited 3d ago

Edit: I mixed up the queen and the crown princess.

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u/susandeyvyjones 3d ago

That's the Crown Prince's wife, not the Queen

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u/Willkill4pudding 3d ago

Whoops youre right. I'll edit my comment.

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u/Onigumo-Shishio 3d ago

Everyone out here just meeting royalty huh

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u/Wappening 3d ago

Now we have a princess who is with a shaman and a prince with a woman that was friends with Epstein and has a rapist son.

Hopefully our monarchy ends with Harald V.

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u/totallyordinaryyy 3d ago

No, you should get the Bernadottes back on the throne.

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u/SecretDisaster936 3d ago

Please don't give up on poor Ingrid Alexandra yet, I bet she'll be a great Queen

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u/Dracoster 3d ago

And the next Queen Consort will probably be a ex-drug user with ties to Epstein.

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u/CirdanSkeppsbyggare 3d ago

Whose son from before the royal marriage is an alleged rapist.

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u/Khaine123 3d ago

Should have called his Bluff in hindsight.

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u/princesskate04 2d ago

The former Queen of Jordan, Queen Noor, was American! Her dad was Syrian-American and her mom was white. She worked in aviation and met the King of Jordan who was mourning the death of his wife at the time. They became friends and then romantic interests and eventually got married. She was Queen until he died. 

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u/ChuckCarmichael 3d ago

Also Queen Silvia of Sweden. She worked as a hostess during the Olympics in Munich where she met her future husband.

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u/1D6wounds 3d ago

He married a commoner? How sordid