5 royal couples who fell in love at the Olympics

The Olympics hold a special place in many royals’ hearts, but for some, more so than others. 

For some royals, a chance meeting led to romance, and eventually marriage and children.

While some have attended the Games to cheer on their home countries, others have actually competed in the Olympics.

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Take Prince Albert of Monaco and his wife, Princess Charlene. Both are former Olympians, with Albert competing in bobsledding and Charlene representing South Africa in swimming.

Learn more about the royals who fell in love at the Olympics…

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King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark

King Frederik and Queen Mary, then Crown Prince and Crown Princess, were newlyweds at the Athens 2004 Olympics (pictured above), but they first met four years earlier at the Sydney Games. 

Frederik met his future wife in a crowded Sydney pub, the Slip Inn, during the Olympics, introducing himself only as ‘Fred’. 

A friend of one of Australian-born Mary’s friends, Beatrice Tarnawski, had arranged an informal evening out for Bruno Gómez-Acebo, nephew of King Juan Carlos of Spain, who brought along Prince Nikolaos of Greece, Frederik, who was with his brother Joachim, and Princess Martha Louise of Norway.

Not that ad agency exec Mary was aware she was in royal company until about 30 minutes into her light-hearted encounter with the group.

She later said in a 2005 interview: “The first time we met we shook hands. I didn’t know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are’?”

After a long-distance relationship, Frederik proposed to Mary in 2003, giving his fiancée an emerald-cut diamond flanked by two rubies in colours that reflected Denmark’s national flag.

The pair were married on 14 May 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral. They have since welcomed four children – Crown Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine. 

Frederik and Mary became king and queen of Denmark in January 2024, following Frederik’s mother Queen Margrethe’s abdication.

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Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco

Prince Albert first met South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock at the Mare Nostrum swimming competition in Monte Carlo, Monaco, in 2000.

Albert was an enthusiastic sportsman who’d competed at bobsleigh in five consecutive Winter Olympics, and the pair hit it off.

“It was incredibly flattering,” Charlene told Vogue. “After seeing me swim, Albert asked my management for permission to take me out. We spent the whole evening laughing and talking.”

Because of the fact that Charlene was still competing, it was another five years before they reconnected and began a relationship in earnest.

“Our first public appearance was at the Turin Olympic Games in 2006. Albert put me at ease,” Charlene recalled later, talking about her entry into the spotlight. “It was clear that we shared the same passions; we both became very emotional watching the athletes. Sport is the common denominator of our lives.”

The pair married in 2011 and welcomed twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, in 2014. 

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Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips

In 1971, the year she turned 21, Princess Anne, the only daughter of the Queen, was a spirited aristocratic beauty blessed with the Windsors’ famously dry sense of humour and her father Prince Philip’s ‘get on with it’ gene.

Even more admirable as far as Mark, a graduate of Sandhurst military academy, was concerned, she was a top flight equestrian. That year, the Princess’s competitive nature helped her win both the European Eventing Championship and BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Captain Phillips himself was part of the British team that rode off with gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

While the pair had got to know each other on the equestrian circuit in the 1960s, their romance was said to have blossomed at the 1972 Games. 

During their engagement interview in 1973, Mark was asked if he had been nervous about proposing to a Princess. 

“The fact that the girl in question is a Princess makes no difference at all. If you get married to someone, it’s a very personal thing and the two of you feel it and it’s completely natural,” he said.

Sadly, the marriage wasn’t to last, but their daughter, Zara Tindall, is also an equestrian. She won a silver medal with the British eventing team at the 2012 Olympics, and was presented with her medal by her mother.

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King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden

At a party during the 1972 Munich Olympics, the heir to one of Europe’s most ancient thrones spotted an official hostess, who as a trained interpreter fluent in five languages, was there to take care of guests.

The chance meeting led to a lasting love match, of which Carl Gustaf would tell reporters: “When I first saw her it said ‘click’ and it has kept clicking ever since.”

However, courtiers put pressure on their young King to consider marrying a Swedish noblewoman. Silvia was of German and Brazilian descent.

The pair continued dating discreetly but in 1974 amid unbearable speculation, Silvia fled to Montreal, ostensibly to prepare for the Olympics due to take place two years later.

Carl Gustaf stayed true, however, and placed his late mother’s ring on Silvia’s hand, presenting her to the press as the future Queen. Asked by reporters why she, above all others, had caught his attention, the monarch seemed to blush, replying: “Well she is Silvia. You can see for yourself.”

The couple went on to have three children and their love story came full circle when their eldest daughter Crown Princess Victoria wed Daniel Westling on 19 June 2010, the 34th anniversary of Carl Gustaf and Silvia’s marriage.

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Infanta Cristina of Spain and Iñaki Urdangarin

King Juan Carlos’s daughter Infanta Cristina met future husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, at the Atlanta 1996 Games. 

The towering star of the national handball team, he competed for his country in three Olympics and holds two bronze medals. Cristina had also represented Spain, as a member of the sailing team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

In 1997, the King gave his daughter away at their glittering wedding in Barcelona. The couple became parents in 1999 with the birth of their eldest son, Juan, in 1999, followed by Pablo in 2000, Miguel in 2002 and daughter Irene in 2005.   

The pair are pictured above at the Beijing 2008 Games. 

However scandal ensued in June 2018 when Iñaki was given a five year and ten-month prison sentence following convictions of embezzlement and money laundering in excess of £4.5 million through his non-profit organisation, the Noos Institute. In 2021, he was put on supervised release, needing to visit prison only once a week.

Infanta Cristina was also investigated but acquitted of any charges, however she was stripped of her royal title, Duchess of Palma, in 2015. 

The couple called time on their 26 year marriage, finalising their divorce in January 2024. 

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