12 photos show what royal couples looked like when they started dating versus now

The pair reportedly met at a polo match at Windsor Castle in 1970. Despite Camilla and Charles' blossoming romance, things came to an end when the Prince of Wales was deployed in the Royal Navy in 1972.

While Prince Charles was serving in the Royal Navy, Camilla became engaged to an Army cavalry officer, Andrew Parker Bowles. They married in 1973, but the couple remained good friends with the prince. Charles was even named the godfather of Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles' first son.

After Prince Charles married Princess Diana in 1981, he remained connected to Camilla on a platonic basis. However, in 1986, Charles and Camilla reportedly began having an affair, according to Sally Bedell Smith's biography of Prince Charles.

Parker Bowles' husband, Andrew, reportedly knew about their romantic relationship and did little to stop it. Princess Diana also reportedly knew about the affair.

In June 1994, during an interview with documentary filmmaker Jonathan Dimbleby, Prince Charles publicly admitted to having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, two years before his divorce from Diana was finalized. In January 1995, Camilla Parker Bowles filed for a divorce from her husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.

They were publicly photographed as a couple for the first time in 1999. After moving into Clarence House together in August 2003, the couple announced their engagement roughly two years later.

More than 30 years after the couple met at a polo match, Prince Charles and Camilla married in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall. They have now been married for 16 years and have known each other for half a century.

During a statement on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee in February 2022, the Queen said she wants Camilla to be known as "Queen Consort" when Prince Charles becomes King.

Prince William graduated with a degree in geography in 2005, while Middleton graduated with a degree in art history.

The pair reportedly started dating after Middleton walked in a student fashion show. As Insider previously reported, Middleton wore a $40 sheer skirt as a dress during a fashion show in 2002, and Prince William was in the audience.

According to a documentary, "The Day Will and Kate Got Married," which aired in the UK in April 2021, it was this appearance that changed their relationship. William later claimed that it was spending more time with Kate that took their relationship to the next level.

"When I first met Kate, I knew there was something very special about her," William said in a joint 2010 interview discussing their engagement. "I knew there was possibly something that I wanted to explore there. We ended up being friends for a while and that just sort of was a good foundation."

They got married on April 29, 2011, in Westminster Abbey. With a price tag of roughly $34 million and an estimated global audience of 3 billion, it was one of the most lavish weddings in history.

That's also the day they got the official titles Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The pair now share three children: Prince George, 8; Princess Charlotte, 6; and Prince Louis, 3.

A mutual friend set them up on a blind date at Soho House's Dean Street Townhouse.

In their first sit-down interview as a couple, Markle told the BBC in 2017 that she didn't know much about the prince or the royal family before the date.

"Because I'm from the States, you don't grow up with the same understanding of the royal family," she said. "I didn't know much about him, so the only thing that I had asked [our mutual friend] when she said that she wanted to set us up, was, 'Well, is he nice?' Cause if he wasn't kind, it just didn't seem like it would make sense."

In an interview with James Corden on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" in February 2021, Prince Harry recalled how serious the pair got within their first two months of dating.

"The second date I was starting to think: This is pretty special," Prince Harry told the host.

In November 2016, Kensington Palace released a statement confirming Harry and Markle's relationship. After more than a year of dating, Markle and Harry attended a tennis event during the Invictus Games in Toronto. They were seen holding hands, whispering to each other, and smiling together for the first time.

Celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, and Elton John, were invited to the wedding celebrations, while thousands of well-wishers lined the streets to wave at the couple, who arrived at the reception via a horse-drawn carriage.

However, in their March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle said she and Harry had actually said their vows to each other three days before the wedding at Windsor Castle.

"No one knows that, but we called the archbishop and we just said, 'This thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us.' So the vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury," she said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury later confirmed they weren't legally married until their ceremony at Windsor Castle.

In May 2019, Prince Harry and Markle's son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born. In January 2020, the couple shared their decision to be "financially independent" and take a "step back" from the royal family.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have since moved to California permanently and have welcomed their second child, a daughter named Lilibet 'Lili' Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

Shoda soon became known nationwide as the future Emperor's "love match," breaking with 2,000 years of tradition, according to CNN.

When the couple wed on April 10, 1959, an estimated 15 million watched the wedding live on television, setting the stage for future televised royal weddings.

Theirs is one of the longest-lasting royal marriages in history.

Their eldest son, Emperor Naruhito, stepped into power when Emperor Akihito abdicated in 2019. He was the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in over 200 years, according to the BBC.

The pair met in 1959 when Constantine was 19 years old and Anne-Marie was just 13. A few years later, the pair's friendship blossomed into a romance.

Due to the couple's young ages, their engagement was kept a secret for several months. Finally, in January 1963, the couple's engagement was announced to the world. They are pictured together the following year.

Almost two years later, King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece were married — just a few weeks after the royal bride's 18th birthday and days later than the official mourning period ended following the death of Constantine's father, King Paul. Constantine was 23 years old.

They also have nine grandchildren, one of whom has become popular on Instagram. Prince Achileas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark, who lists his name on Instagram as Achileas of Greece, has over 500,000 followers.

Prince Edward met Rhys-Jones through a friend of hers that he was dating in 1987, though the pair later reconnected and began dating in 1993, according to the Express.

In 1999, it was announced that Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones were engaged. In June of that year, the couple wed at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. In a similar fashion to other royal weddings, the ceremony was televised and viewed by more than 200 million people.

Prince Edward is the sole child of Queen Elizabeth to have never gotten divorced. The couple shares two children: Lady Louise Windsor, 18, and James, Viscount Severn, 14.