(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Once upon a time, a fitness trainer, a student, a single mum, and a Tasmanian, four ordinary young people with ordinary lives.

- She was a middle class girl from Bucklebury.

She was, to all intents and purposes, a commoner.

- [Narrator] But one moment changes everything.

They fall in love with a royal.

- The media went crazy.

It was a circus.

(cameras clicking) (paparazzi chatting) - You certainly have to be thick-skinned knowing that you're going to be in the limelight knowing that people are always going to want a piece of you.

- [Narrator] Are the commoners bringing a breath of fresh air to the royal houses?

Or are they even a threat to the monarchy?

The pressure on them is enormous.

(journalist speaking in foreign language) (upbeat music) - We still have ideals and expectations of how we expect kings and Queens or Princes and Princesses to behave.

We have this expectation that they're going to be the best of us.

- You can only be sort of true to yourself and you sort of have to ignore a lot of what's said.

- [Narrator] These are the extraordinary love stories of four young people who give up their old lives forever.

(Princess Mary speaking Danish) - If you accept that role, it's for life, you can't just run away from it.

- [Narrator] And who will change Europe's royal houses forever.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (dramatic music) (traffic buzzing) July, 2002.

Just outside Stockholm, Crown Princess Victoria, heir to Sweden's throne, attends the birthday celebrations of a close friend.

A paparazzi photographer, concealed in a boat, (camera clicking) snaps a photo of the Princess kissing a mystery man on the dance floor.

(dramatic music) It was an exceptionally rare catch.

The photo would be worth a fortune.

(camera clicking) It showed Sweden's future head of state in the arms of Daniel Westling, the man who only weeks before Victoria had insisted was just a very good friend.

Daniel's life changed overnight.

- Everyone wanted to know who is he, who's his family, what is he doing, and what is his intention with the Swedish Crown Princess?

Is it for real or what is going on?

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] The photograph of the private moment, between the newly discovered couple became known as "the kiss."

Within a day, the nation knew the name of the mysterious commoner.

But Victoria's parents, the King and Queen, saw it in the news like everyone else.

(gentle music) Daniel Westling was from a rural town with rural tastes.

He spoke with a country accent and wore trucker caps emblazoned with the names of sports teams.

- He loved sports, he loved ice hockey and football.

He grew up in Ockelbo, a very small town up north with two happily married parents and a sister.

I would say that he was a typical middle class young man.

(Prince Daniel speaking Swedish) - [Narrator] Daniel liked business and keeping fit.

He moved to Stockholm, became a personal trainer, and eventually opened a small exclusive gym.

Crown Princess Victoria's privileged youth wasn't without its struggles.

At college, she had battled an eating disorder.

(dramatic music) - She left and went to the US instead to be able to study in peace and to get some help for her eating disorders, which she did.

She did get that help.

(cameras clicking) - [Narrator] Back home, she continued to focus on her health.

- She needed to have something that could make her strong and feel good about herself.

So she was looking for a gym, a private gym, a discreet one.

And she found master training And Daniel Westling he became her personal trainer and after a while they became very good friends.

- The relationship was very quiet at the beginning.

It took some time before it was discovered outside the very close circle.

(upbeat music) - I think the majority of the people thought that this is very good for her.

They could see that she was happy.

(gentle music) But I also know that there were a lot of people around the Crown Princess, that actually had good arguments or bad arguments about Daniel Westling, if he was suitable or not.

(camera clicking) It remained to be seen if the reserved personal gym trainer would survive this intense scrutiny, Perhaps, more than any other commoner to become "Suddenly Royal," Kate Middleton knew what she might be in for.

(gentle music) Like other Britons her age, she'd grown up watching Prince William's childhood on TV.

- [Charles] Introduction to the electronic news (indistinct) techniques (laughing).

- William grew up a Prince, and not just a Prince, he grew up a Prince destined to be king.

He grew up knowing a life of round the clock security, a life of palaces and protocol, an extraordinary life.

- [Narrator] William's mother, Diana Spencer was an aristocrat who married into royalty, but she tried to protect her two boys from the pressures of royal life.

(crowd cheering) - But then of course, his mother Diana was absolutely determined to give her sons an as normal an upbringing as possible.

I think, of course, with the death of Diana, it meant that that very affectionate, demonstrative, loving relationship with a mother was taken away.

The upbringing of William at that point became much more about the royal family and the expectations of him, I think as a future monarch.

University was an oasis time, really, where he finally had a break from that (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Kate met William when they were both students at the prestigious University of St.

Andrews.

- Their relationship started as a friendship they'd go to lectures together, they'd play tennis together in the mornings they'd often go swimming.

They had many of the same interests and many of the same friends.

- [Narrator] But at a fashion show fundraiser in early 2002, the Prince saw Catherine in a new light.

- Kate sashayed down the catwalk in a see-through dress that was meant to be a skirt.

He was sitting next to a friend of his and turned to the friend and said, "Wow, Kate's hot."

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Hardly a fairytale moment, but a familiar beat in many young love stories.

William and Kate moved into the same share-house with other students.

Soon, in another undergraduate rite of passage, they became a couple.

- They became friends, they became partners.

Necessarily, I think during all this time, he will have had in mind the question, is she going to be a future Queen?

Is she gonna make a future Queen?

And he can't get away from his destiny.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] It wasn't long before the media began asking questions about Kate and her family's background.

- There was an interesting reaction in many ways.

There was this sense actually of perhaps Britain being quite traditional as represented by the media and this sense of her as a commoner sort of middle class Middleton's.

She was just there to profit from it, to be a social climber.

- [Narrator] Catherine Middleton's mother, Carole, was an airline hostess and her father, an aeroplane dispatcher.

Later they both ran a successful party planning business.

She grew up near London and went to posh Marlborough College.

She spoke like William, but in class bound Britain, everyone knew how far beneath him she had been born.

- She was a middle class girl from Bucklebury from a privileged, but relatively ordinary background and there was a certain amount of sniping about the fact that she wasn't an aristocrat.

She was, to all intents and purposes, a commoner.

(paparazzi chatting indistinctly) (cameras clicking) - Whenever anyone marries into a royal family, they are subjected to the most appalling scrutiny from the media.

(upbeat music) This newcomer is looked at to see where he or she appears to fit in the social scale.

Is he or she a member of the aristocracy?

If that actually exists in that country.

Is she middle class?

Is he middle class?

Are they working class?

Each country has slightly different rules.

Britain is probably more class-based than say the Scandinavian countries.

But even there, it has played a role in the attitude towards newcomers.

(cameras clicking) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] But many other ordinary Britons saw Kate differently to the commentators, as a potential Cinderella, the fairytale heroine who gets to go to the ball.

- I think most British people actually celebrated the fact that here was a very ordinary middle class girl who'd managed to find herself here in the bosom of the royal family, a future Queen.

- [Narrator] In 2005, the couple graduated, then moved to different parts of the country.

As tradition demanded, he went to the military, she joined the family firm, planning parties.

But William and Kate decided to remain a couple and ride the rollercoaster of very different post-student lives.

(dramatic music) The British monarchy is the most traditional in Europe.

Among Prince William's ancestors it was once unimaginable for an heir to the throne to choose a partner with Kate's background.

- I think that traditionally love has not been that important to royalty.

That's been the least important factor in royal marriages, if you like.

Whether there was any kind of love or affection.

- Marriages in the past were all about politics and diplomacy.

Marriages were about alliances and the best means of consolidating alliances between countries was a marriage between the Prince or Princess of one or other country.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) - Tradition is absolutely vital for monarchies because that is where they get their legitimacy from.

(crowd cheering) Ancient monarchies often kind of link to themselves to being the descendants of gods and goddesses being living gods themselves.

In a more modern context, that tradition that comes from being of that royal lineage, the descendants of previous monarchs, that is where they get their right to the throne.

So tradition is absolutely paramount.

(crowd cheering) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Tradition would be put to the test in Norway when the air of the Throne's new girlfriend defied all expectations.

Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby's life began like many other ordinary Norwegians living outside the big cities.

- She grew up in Kristiansand.

She was the youngest.

She was what we call a Norwegian Attpaklatt.

That means you're a late child and has older siblings.

She had a father who struggled with alcohol and from early age on she had quite a need to rebel against, I don't know, everything.

(upbeat music) - She did things that all young Norwegians, all young people everywhere do.

She went to rock concerts.

She hung out with all sorts of people.

She had lots of boyfriends and so on.

- She was in environments with a lot of partying, house culture, but she also was engaged in volunteering work.

She's quite complex you could say.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] 1996 was a big year for Mette-Marit, she had split with her longtime boyfriend and fiance then became pregnant to one of his close friends.

Both men had been convicted of drug related offences.

(sirens blaring) (dramatic music) But at a music festival, Mette-Marit met the heir to the Norwegian throne, Crown Prince Haakon.

Their relationship was fleeting.

By the time they reconnected three years later, Mette-Marit had given birth to a son.

This time they stayed together hoping to go unnoticed by the press.

- I don't know if she had anything the people kind of pictured in a Princess.

When you picture a Princess, it's someone who is of course, a virgin.

She was not a virgin, she had a child.

She had relationships and partying and shaving heads and everything.

Everything was wrong with her.

- [Narrator] Within a few months, the news broke.

(dramatic music) Crown Prince Haakon had moved in with Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby, a single mother.

The unlikely couple were deeply in love.

(dramatic music continues) But would love be enough to sustain Mette-Marit through the shocks of becoming "Suddenly Royal?"

(upbeat music) - I think you can have no real idea what you're getting into until you're actually in it.

It's like giving birth to a child, right?

No one's gonna actually tell you their actual birth story because it's too horrendous.

And I think that's kind of like joining the royal family.

No one's really gonna tell you what it's like and no one can really explain that to you until you're absolutely in it.

- [Narrator] Prince Haakon had lived his life in public, and according to a script written by history and tradition.

Mette-Marit had written her own rules, only seen and judged by a close circle.

(gentle music) Tasmania is Australia's smallest, coldest, and perhaps most beautiful state.

Mary Donaldson grew up in the suburbs of its biggest city.

She did well at school, university, and beyond.

- Dream Head has a sense of strength about it, I find.

- She was just an ordinary Aussie girl.

She worked in advertising, she worked in real estate, and she really had the best stroke of luck when she met a Prince.

- See ya guys.

(staff chatting indistinctly) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] At 28, Mary lived in Australia's biggest city during its greatest party.

The 2000 Sydney Olympics.

- Crown Prince Frederick had travelled to Australia for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and he was part of Denmark's sailing delegation.

Crown Prince Frederick is a keen sailor.

He's very talented and has a huge passion for the sport.

As a young man, he was very much the playboy Prince.

He was known for dating some lingerie models, a pop star, a fashion designer.

- He liked to go out, he liked sports, he liked fast cars and boats, was he really serious?

He wasn't too happy about the role that he was going to play it seemed, it didn't really fit him, but I think it all changed when he met Mary Donaldson.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Mary lived near the beach at Bondi.

Her flatmate asked if she wanted to join him and some friends at a pub in the city.

The Slip Inn was heaving with sports fans.

Mary met Frederick.

She had no idea she was chatting to the future king of Denmark.

(Princess Mary speaking Danish) - [Narrator] Frederick and Mary hung out for the rest of his time in Sydney.

Then Mary returned to her Bondi flat, the Prince to his Copenhagen palace and royal duties.

- The lives of a common person and someone in the royal family, I think are worlds apart.

(gentle music) But you've signed up for this life of service and it's all about giving to the family.

It's less about what you might want to do for yourself, whatever your career ambitions are.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] From opposite sides of the world Mary and Frederick's romance smouldered.

- The relationship between the Crown Prince of Denmark and Mary Donaldson's had to be kept in secret.

Also because two young people meeting each other, there's always some frailty to that.

You have to find out, are we in love?

Are we right for each other?

How serious is this?

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Mary and Frederick had a chance to hide their relationship, but as soon as "The Kiss" photo was published, the heat of the press fell on Daniel and Victoria.

- Is there romance already in your life?

Let's break some hearts.

- Well, there is, but I don't want to get into my private life and I hope you respect that.

- [Narrator] Victoria had grown up in the spotlight.

Daniel was entirely unprepared.

- He was photographed with a cap on and he looked scared, he looked frightened.

And after that, the media started to hunt for more pictures very aggressively.

(dramatic music) (camera clicking) - [Narrator] Daniel's humble background came under the microscope.

Some questioned whether he was a fitting partner for the future Queen of Sweden, and some of the press coverage was sneering.

- They would mock his accent.

They would look at his style of dress.

The car he drove.

Questions will begin to be asked about, how good's his English?

How's he gonna cope at official functions?

Does he know how to handle a knife and fork properly?

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] The road for Daniel and Victoria should have been easy.

Swedes were already familiar with the story of an ordinary person marrying into the royal family.

Victoria's mother, Silvia Sommerlath was a commoner.

(camera clicking) (gentle music) She met the future king when it was still forbidden for a member of the Swedish royal family to marry anyone not of royal blood.

(gentle music) Crown Prince Carl Gustav was at the Olympics when his gaze strayed from the sporting action.

- The king was on the VIP section and Silvia Sommerlath, she was the main hostess and she took care of all the VIPs.

She suddenly felt that someone was watching her, so she turned around and she met the king, he was Prince at that time, with binoculars, just peeking on her.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] But changing the law to allow the soulmates to marry required the support of the then king, Gustav VI Adolf.

(upbeat music) The King had already cast two of his surviving sons out of the royal family when they followed their hearts to marry commoners.

- He knew that his uncles had lost their titles, their royal status, and was treated really bad when they married ordinary women.

He knew that he could never ask to get married to Silvia Sommerlath, he had to wait.

(upbeat music continues) - [Narrator] But even after Gustav was crowned in 1973, he couldn't publicly declare his love for Silvia.

- But he knew also that it was still sensitive, perhaps with the Swedish population as a whole, there's this kind of gulf in status between the two of them.

(crowd cheering) And so he played it very carefully, very slowly.

(crowd chanting) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The new King waited three years into his reign to use his royal prerogative to allow his marriage to Silvia.

- Are you nervous?

- No.

- I'm a little nervous (laughing).

- [Narrator] He'd needn't have worried.

Sweden was thrilled.

While Queen Silvia was warmly welcomed by the Swedish people, Daniel found that history was not repeating itself.

To escape the media, Daniel and Princess Victoria would sometimes retreat to Daniel's hometown of Ockelbo.

And there the locals were happy to give the couple their privacy.

- They are very welcoming, but they are also very protective about the Crown Princess and Daniel Westling.

If I, as a journalist, ask a question to someone of them, they just smile and they said, "Hmm, I'm not gonna say anything."

- [Narrator] Ockelbo citizens' ordinary kindness hinted at what Daniel might bring to the monarchy.

- I think one thing that's really important in terms of commoners or ordinary individuals, et cetera, is I think they infuse the royal family with more approachability.

- Somebody who's not grown up within the gilded cage of the palace, of the monarchy, of the royal family, has an entirely different perspective.

They have the perspective not least of looking on at the royal family in the monarch as being something above and something other and can have a unique perspective on how it is not to be within the royal family and looking up at it.

- [Narrator] Perhaps the cap wearing gym instructor would be able to even up the relationship between Sweden's royals and their subjects.

But only if he could negotiate the fraught path between Victoria's heart, to acceptance by her royal dynasty, a snobbish media and the Swedish people.

(traffic buzzing) (upbeat music) In Norway, Mette-Marit, her young son and Prince Haakon lived together, a very modern household.

The press dubbed her the Cinderella of Kristiansand, then highlighted all the ways in which she didn't meet the ideals of a fairytale Princess.

- I mean, Norwegian media were extraordinarily aggressive.

They also zoomed in on her father, who was a really controversial character whose life had gone a little bit wrong, who didn't really have much money, was himself hanging out with all manner of dubious people.

And he was prepared to accept money from the tabloids to give them pictures, to give them information about his daughter.

(upbeat music) (Mette-Marit speaking in Norwegian) - [Narrator] Prince Haakon stood fast with Mette-Marit, despite the headlines and the criticism.

- All the criticism of Mette-Marit was obviously very troublesome for Haakon.

He was worried perhaps that it would reach such a degree of intensity that he'd be forced to choose between her and taking the throne.

He was initially reluctant to tell his father about it.

- [Narrator] Haakon's reluctance was rooted in royal history.

40 years earlier, his father, King Harald, had risked the Crown and the stability of his country to marry a commoner.

(gentle music) Then Crown Prince of Norway, Harald had fallen in love with Sonja Haraldsen, a middle-class woman from Oslo.

- She came from a fairly affluent family, which had made a lot of money with selling ladies clothing and mixed in relatively high society in Norway.

But she was still a commoner, which was potentially a problem when the future King announced to his father that he wanted to marry her.

- [Narrator] The King refused to approve the marriage.

But for nine years, Harald stood his ground.

- And he said, "Okay, if I can't marry Sonja, I'm not gonna marry anyone and the dynasty by definition is gonna end with me."

And the Norwegian royal family was a relatively young royal family, Norway has only had its separate monarchy since 1905.

And ultimately Harald prevailed and commoner or not, Sonja married him.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Although Sonja wasn't royal Norway accepted her as their Queen, perhaps in part because she was wealthy and conventional.

Mette-Marit was neither.

(upbeat music) - Her ex-partner was involved in some dodgy dealings, the press loved to bring that up.

They loved to scrutinise and throw it out there and judge and say, are you the type of person that should be in our royal family?

The most sanctified and held up and worshipped family in our country.

(Queen and grandchild laughing) - [Narrator] Despite their subjects' reservations about Mette-Marit, King Harold and Queen Sonja gave their blessing.

The couple announced their engagement.

(gentle music) (Mette-Marit speaking Norwegian) (Haakon speaking Norwegian) - [Narrator] But even after the engagement, many Norwegians were still not buying their love story.

(journalist speaking Norwegian) (Mette-Marit speaking Norwegian) - [Narrator] Support for the Norwegian monarchy plummeted.

Approval fell from an average of 80% to under 60, the lowest ever.

(dramatic music) More worryingly, support for a republic rose to 25%.

- If we are to have a monarchy in the future, the royals have to walk a very delicate balance.

(upbeat music) Because of course it has to become more modern with times, otherwise people can't identify with it.

But can it get too normal?

I mean, can they become too much like the rest of us?

When will people say, "Well, why should I pay to those people because they're just like me?

Why should I show them more respect because they're not better than I am?"

(upbeat music) - We still have ideals and expectations of how we expect Kings and Queens or Princes and Princesses to behave.

I think those high expectations have always been there.

And I think monarchy has always been visible.

I think one of the big differences is that monarchy is hyper visible now in a way.

People would've perhaps seen monarchs on a coin, seen monarchs in a picture, maybe seen a monarch in a major ceremonial event a coronation, a wedding.

Whereas today with the rise of the paparazzi and then social media, we are seeing them in every possible way.

We're seeing them in much more personal ways.

- [Narrator] Intensely watched by the media, dogged by public disapproval, Haakon and Mette-Marit would come under increasing pressure in the lead up to their royal wedding.

(upbeat music) For the first two years of their relationship, Danes didn't get the chance to judge Prince Frederick's Australian girlfriend, Mary Donaldson.

They lived on opposite sides of the world and they kept their visits to each other secret.

(Princess Mary speaking Danish) - But on top of that, a Crown Prince of Denmark can't go out and show off a girlfriend without being sure that this is right.

And for certain the royal family cannot even acknowledge her existence, before they know this is right.

- [Narrator] As things became more certain, Mary left Sydney for Paris before eventually moving to Denmark, still under the radar of the press and the public.

- She moved to Copenhagen in 2002 to start a new life, really just to see whether she would be able to adjust to Denmark.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] In Copenhagen Frederick had been closely watched all his life.

Soon Mary would be too.

- She was walking home from work one night on her way to her car when a member of the media approached her and said, "We know you are the Crown Prince's girlfriend."

And she didn't say anything, she just put her head down and walked as fast as she could to her car.

But she says that it was in that moment, her entire life changed.

(dramatic music) (Princess Mary speaking Danish) - Good morning, Mary.

- Good morning.

- How are you?

- Good, thank you.

- [Jakob] For any girl coming from the other side of the world, being plunged into such an unusual situation as having to think of yourself as the future Queen of Denmark must be really difficult.

- How is your Prince doing today, Mary?

- Also be aware of the fact that she had to succeed in the role.

If you accept that role, it's for life.

You can't just run away from it.

And you will also be judged, of course, by a whole nation whose eyes are on you.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] The approval of 5 million Danes was one thing, but Mary also had to win over Frederick's formidable mother, second only to her cousin, Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Queen Marguerite was the longest serving monarch in the world, and she'd been playing palace politics since birth.

- And for an outsider coming in, you may not understand the dynamics of that palace politics and why it's so important.

But that certainly is something that people within the royal family and people coming into the royal family will most certainly have to deal with.

- [Narrator] Mary's first and most significant step towards becoming royal was building her relationship with the Queen.

- Before actually an engagement was declared she answered questions about Mary Donaldson and said that she was looking forward to having her as a daughter-in-law, more or less telling the world that this will be serious, there will be an engagement pronounced.

And that was what happened in the fall of 2003.

(trumpet blaring) - [Narrator] With the approval of her future mother-in-law secured, Mary and Frederick announced their engagement.

(dramatic music) (Princess Mary speaking Danish) (crowd cheering) (Princess Mary speaking Danish) - And that was the first glimpse the world really had of Mary Donaldson, this future Crown Princess, this future Queen of Denmark.

- [Narrator] Mary looked like monarchy material, but to be a true Princess of Denmark, she would need to master Danish, a notoriously difficult language.

At the engagement announcement she revealed just how far she had to go.

(Princess Mary speaking Danish) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Despite her struggles with their language, Crown Prince Frederick's choice of bride seemed popular among Danes.

- She seemed smart and quite humble in the situation.

But first and foremost, and that's not a minor factor with the royals, she looked the part.

She had a natural grace about her that impressed Danes.

And also it was quite obvious with the two young people sitting there in the sofa that they were very much in love.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] But for Mary and Frederick's modern love to become a royal marriage, she would have to give up her Australian citizenship, change her religion, and agree to relinquish any children in the event of divorce.

From Tasmania, she had come so far, but her journey to becoming a successful Queen of Denmark had only begun.

(upbeat music) Although many Swedes warmed to him Daniel Westling's country accent and fondness for trucker caps, clouded his prospects of winning over the Swedish royal family.

He moved in with Victoria anyway.

- He moved to Drottningholm where the Crown Princess had her own little house.

So it was, I would say step by step, which is a smart way of integrating because it's not so easy to become "Suddenly Royal."

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Daniel began to accompany Crown Princess Victoria to public events.

And gradually he changed.

- And I think as time went on, as Daniel learned a lot about how to behave in a royal or a seemingly royal manner, people really warmed to him and he had a lot of assistance.

The whole palace kind of PR machine, they swung in behind him and they kind of changed his image.

They smartened him up, they gave him the English lessons.

You know, they turned him essentially into a suitable candidate for marriage.

(Haakon speaking Norwegian) - It does take a certain type of person to join that family.

You certainly have to be thick-skinned knowing that you're going to be in the limelight, knowing that people are always going to want a piece of you, but also knowing that you've signed up to this life of service.

It's a really, really huge burden to undertake.

- [Narrator] Although it was common amongst their subjects, Victoria and Daniel were the first Swedish royal couple to openly live together outside of marriage.

(gentle music) In 2009, the couple of seven years announced their engagement.

Victoria revealed Daniel had proposed on bended knee in the palace gardens.

- Why they waited for a while before they decided to marry is for me a secret.

And of course there are lots of speculations.

Everything from that the king and Queen didn't want it to happen to that she wanted to get done with her studies and so on.

(Victoria speaking Swedish) (Crowd and Victoria laughing) - They had to fight for their love.

They had to go through a lot of ups and downs.

I know that a lot of people were actually standing on his side because they wanted to have a happy ending.

So all those years there were a lot of cheering for Daniel.

(Victoria speaking Swedish) (gentle music) - [Reporter] Will life be easier from now on?

- Much easier.

(everyone laughing) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Daniel and Victoria weren't the only European royal couple to wait a long time before deciding to marry.

In the UK, the media had started to refer to Catherine as Waity Katy.

(gentle music) - [Reporter] Prince William, romance clearly in the air here.

Could there be another wedding perhaps on the cards sometime soon?

- (laughing) No.

I don't think so.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Haunting his relationship with Kate was William's parents, one of the most brutal and public marital meltdowns in recent history.

- He'd seen what had happened to his parents.

He'd seen how disastrous their marriage had been and how disastrously it had imploded.

And he wanted, I think, to really prepare her for royal life.

And he wanted also to be sure, I think that she was the right one.

- [Narrator] In April, 2007, William broke up with Catherine Middleton.

- You know, we were both very young.

We were both finding ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff.

It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up.

- [Narrator] The split only lasted two months before William reconciled with Catherine.

(gentle music) (crowd cheering) - And no sooner had William sort of said, "I think we should take a break."

Then he was working out how he had to get Kate back because I think he knew that she was the one and she did have what it took.

(gentle music) And that was when they realised, "This is it, we are going to stay the course for this we're meant to be together."

- [Narrator] In June, 2010, Catherine and William moved into a four bedroom cottage in Anglesey, Wales.

Its remoteness allowed Kate freedom to go about life, mostly out of the media's gaze.

It would be the last time she would be able to lead a relatively normal life.

Four months later, she and William announced their engagement.

- [Reporter] Kate, you're not just going to become William's wife, you will become a member of the Royal family as well and I wonder how you feel about that?

- Well it's quite a daunting prospect, but I hope to take it in my stride.

William is a great teacher so I hope he will be able to help me along the way and I really look forward to it and spending my time with William.

- She is very good at flattery.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] William gave Kate his mother's engagement ring.

Britons began to make comparisons between Kate and Diana.

- I would love to have met her.

She's an inspirational woman to look up to.

- It's about making her own future in your own destiny and Kate will do a very good job of that.

- [Narrator] Kate may have wished to forge her own future, but she was about to join an institution dedicated to maintaining its own existence and influence above anything or anyone else.

- You know, her life was never going to be the same after that engagement announcement and it never was.

- [Narrator] The wedding would be Kate's first test.

- There's always such a huge interest in royal weddings and people love seeing the dresses and the flowers, the flower girls and the church and the outfits, the cars, everything.

Everything to do with this Prince and Princess fantasy people want a piece of that.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Across Britain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, four couples prepared to marry.

- Royal weddings have become moments of national celebration, it's all about coming together.

- [Narrator] Ancient traditions, modern media frenzies, peoples and governments trying to adjust to a fast changing world.

- Traditions particularly important in royal weddings because again, of that really important balance, a monarchy has to strike between tradition and innovation.

- [Narrator] Half of the lovers were born for this moment.

The other half, the commoners, had learned some lessons during courtship, but now faced the daunting cathedral isles and solemn vows that would make them royal.

- And this was also the conclusion of a great romance that ended well and we liked those stories, of course.

- Weddings for royal families are a time for joy and they like to show us that, look, we're here to stay.

(crowd cheering) (gentle music) ♪ Hold me close, I need you so ♪ I want you in my dreams ♪ Hold me close, I need you so ♪ I want you in my dreams