Many ordinary little girls dream of one day becoming a princess.
There's a reason why Cinderella is one of the most popular fairy tale stories of all time! Something about the rags-to-riches journey really appeals to people who want to believe they can be plucked from their everyday lives to join the incredibly luxurious destinies of the royals.
It's probably the same reason why people all over the world can't get enough of the British royal family — in particular, Kate Middleton.
Kate is one example of a commoner who became royalty. She and Prince William met while studying at St. Andrews University in Scotland back in 2001. Nearly a decade later, they married. Kate became the Duchess of Cambridge, and is now one of the most famous people in the entire world.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark also got her start as a "regular" (non-royal) person before meeting her "fairy tale prince" — and in a recent interview, she suggested that her fate was in the cards.
Scroll through to learn more about Princess Mary's incredible story!
Thumbnail Photos: Wikimedia Commons / VisitCopenhagen // Getty Images / Ian Waldie
[H/T: People]
According to People, Mary Donaldson was an Australian advertising executive when she first met Prince Frederik, the crown prince of Denmark.
Denmark's heir apparent met his future wife at the Slip Inn, a pub in Sydney.
At the time, Prince Frederik was visiting Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Funnily enough, Mary had no idea that he was a prince when they first met.
The future princess met a "sporty" young man who introduced himself to her as "Fred," according to Hello! Magazine.
"The first time we met we shook hands," she recalled. "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?'"
The pair dated for three years before Queen Margrethe II, Frederik's mom and the reigning monarch in Denmark, publicly acknowledged the relationship in April 2003.
Six months later, their engagement was announced.
In order to wed her prince, Mary needed to relinquish her Australian citizenship, convert from her Presbyterian faith to the Danish Lutheran Church, learn Danish, and preemptively give up her rights to their kids in the case of divorce.
The pair married in May 2004.
In the nearly 14 years since their wedding, they have had four children: son Prince Christian, daughter Princess Isabella, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine. The family enjoys celebrity status and the love of the Danish people, much like Prince William and Duchess Kate's family does in England.
In a recent interview with Jens Andersen, the author of a new authorized biography of Prince Frederik, Princess Mary revealed that her royal romance seems to have been fated.
Two years before meeting the prince, then 28-year-old Mary came across a tarot card reader in a local flea market in Australia. She decided to give the reading a go, and the fortune teller read her future in the card deck.
The tarot reader told Mary that she would eventually leave the job she'd just started to meet a man from abroad, and that she would become famous and move to Europe.
"So I left there and thought, 'Well yes, that was a lot of fun, but nothing more,'" Crown Princess Mary, now 45, recalled. "But I’ve always been interested in the spiritual. In mystery and fate."
As it turned out, all three predictions eventually came true.
Princess Mary's husband, for his part, also believes in fate, but doesn't necessarily think that someone can predict his future.
"I believe in fate," he said. "When I look back on all the exciting things that have happened to me, it’s not random. But I don’t try to look ahead and say, 'Can I predict my destiny for the next two years?' I don’t want to talk to anyone who claims they can. No one should read anything about me and my future."
Can you imagine something like this happening to you or someone you know?
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