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London: Kate
Middleton may be the first commoner in four centuries to marry a
future heir to the British throne, but it is not all that uncommon
for royals globally to marry outside aristocracy, says a new study
released here Friday.
"Barely one in four princes worldwide today marry fellow royals,
reveals the study of 107 royal romances since World War II, while
just one in 17 European princes do so," says the study by social
networking site Badoo.com.
"Indeed, nearly three-quarters of European princes now marry
commoners, rather than royals or aristocrats," the study says.
"British royals, in other words, are finally becoming more
European in their approach to marriage."
Badoo's researchers studied 107 serious romances involving princes
worldwide since 1945. They came from 30 countries, 33 royal
families and four continents, said the site while releasing the
study to coincide with Middleton's wedding with Prince William.
A surprising number of royal brides also resemble Kate in having
first met their prince at university. No less than 10 percent of
the 107 relationships like that of Kate and William were found to
have begun as students -- nine at university, two at school.
The figure for European princes is even higher at 12 percent.
Nor is Kate's humble background uncommon. While Kate went to an
elite school and has wealthy parents, Princess Letizia of Spain
has working-class parents, while Princess Tessy of Luxembourg is
the daughter of a tiler, the site said.
"There's been much fuss about Kate being a commoner," said Lloyd
Price, Badoo's director of Marketing. "But the truth is, our study
shows, that she is more typical than rare among recent European
royal brides."
Some of the key findings of the study are:
- Almost three-quarters of royal romances have been with commoners
- Just 6 percent have been with fellow royals
- Nearly 63 percent have been with a woman of a different
nationality
- As many as 12 percent started as student romances
- A nearly equal number of 13 percent of such romances started via
sport or pastimes
Has any woman, so far, yet met a prince using Badoo.com? "Not as
far as we know," said Price. "But it must only be a matter of
time."
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