"Beggars are no choosers." Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and her husband Hendrik had only one child: Princess Juliana. Because of a change in the constitution of 1922 it was impossible for anybody other than a descendant of Wilhelmina to inherit the Dutch throne. On Juliana alone rested the future of the Dutch monarchy. This all meant that her consort was chosen even more carefully than normally would be the case. In the end, Dutch diplomats looked for seven years but did not find anybody, until a certain Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld introduced himself to the Princess.

The crisis known as the "Belgian Royal Question" shook the foundations of the Belgian monarchy after World War II and would split the country in two. Some even feared that a civil war would result. The core of the crisis was the conduct of Leopold III during World War II: was he a collaborator or not? And then there was his secret marriage to Lilian Baels, which did not sit well with the image of a grieving widower locked up in his castle and sharing the same fate as his troops. Walloons, Flemish, Catholics, Liberals, Socialists, and even Belgium's French and British allies all had different opinions about Leopold's conduct.

Throughout history from the Norman Conquest to the late 17th century, France rather than Germany was the focus of English foreign policy. In order to avoid wars and cement alliances, albeit temporary, many marriages were contracted between English and French royalty during that time. This article chronicles the experiences and fates of the French princesses who married into the English royal family, from Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 to Henrietta Maria of France in 1625.