Most of our Crown Princesses were commoners- actually, only one of them was not. Crown Princess Mathilde of Belgium was a member of the Belgian nobility prior to her marriage.
All the monarchies in the world (at least as far as I know) require that royals, (or at least the heir) are required to ask the government's permission and/or the permission of the king/queen prior to marrying anyone. If they do not, or if that permission is denied, then that royal would lose their titles, right to succession, and possibly their government-provided allowances.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit was a single mother with a past when she fell in love with Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. After long, long debates, both in the press and in the government, the Norwegian government decided to allow the marriage. Her past has now mostly been overlooked (it's there, but no one cares). At least with me, that Haakon fought for Mette-Marit and for their love just makes me like them more.
Crown Princess Letizia was Doña Letizia Ortiz Roscasolano, a television journalist in Madrid prior to her marriage, and a divorcee. As Spain is a Catholic monarchy which has had a traditionally very conservative royal family, this was considered a major deal...although Felipe's ex-girlfriends included lingere models......The king and queen threw their support behind the couple, and the government approved the marriage, and now Letizia is one of the most popular royal ladies in the world.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark was Miss Mary Donaldson, an Australian who worked in a real estate office and then at Microsoft prior to her marriage. After meeting her future husband in a Sydney, Australia bar during the Olympics, and overcoming his mother's initial doubts, the Danish government easily passed the motion to allow Miss Donaldson to marry the Crown Prince, and also awarded her Danish citizenry. Crown Princess Mary is now wildly popular and considered to be a multi-million dollar asset to Denmark.
Crown Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, neé Mámima Zorreguieta Cerruti, was an Argentinian financier who was working in New York City's financial district when she met Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands at a dinner party. Her father was the agricultural minister under Jorge Videla. During Videla's governing, Argentina was the scene of massive human-rights abuses and state-sponsered violence (here's a
link about it). Although there is no proof that her father ever was a part of these things, he was still a part of Videla's government. Debate raged for months about what to do. WA was determined to marry Máxima, and I believe that he even threatened to renounce his rights to sucession if he was not allowed to marry her. Finally, Máxima was allowed to marry Willem-Alexander, but it was decided that her father would not be allowed to attend the wedding, and her mother decided to abstain as well (the song "Stand by your man" plays in my head...). This was undoubtedly difficult for Máxima, and she cried for them during her wedding, but her love won out. Máxima and Willem-Alexander are now the parents of three beautiful girls, and Máxima is very popular, particularly in the Netherlands.
________________________________________________________________
Josefine said:
We got several examples that "a normal citizen" gets her own title princess or she uses her husbands title.
there are members on this board that can tell us about the differnce a princess in her own right and use her husbands title
I think I have addressed the first part of Josefine's post in the above part of my message, but now I'll address the issue of princess in her own right vs. a princess who just uses her husband's title.
I don't remember many princesses who were solely granted their own title without using her husband's title as well.
Crown Princess Mathilde of Belgium was given the title of Princess Mathilde of Belgium, a title given to her by the king, on her wedding day. This title means that, no matter what happens, if she became divorced, widowed, or whatever, that she will always be Princess Mathilde of Belgium. However, since her husband's titles of Crown Prince and Duke of Brabant are above her title of Princess, she is commonly addressed by his titles.
Royals are generally addressed by the highest title they posess- such as the Prince of Wales, who is also a Prince of England and Scotland, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothsay, and several other titles I don't remember, but is always addressed as Prince of Wales.
Crown Princess Máxima of the Netherlands was also created as Princess of the Netherlands in her own right. Again, that means that the title is hers and hers alone. Since she is the wife of the Crown Prince, out of respect she is addressed as Crown Princess Máxima (there is a thread about Máxima's titles in the Dutch Royal Family section, to discuss the finer points of her styling because hers might be more complicated).
As far as I know, they are the only ones created as Princess in their own right.
Women who use their husband's titles:
Most royal women use their husband's titles, unless the women already posess titles that supercede their husbands'. All the Queen Consorts only receive the title because of their husband- Queen Sonja, Queen Sofia, Queen Silvia, Queen Paola, Queen Rania, Empress Michiko, and others, for example.
Also, some royal women outrank their husbands, so the husbands may be given titles that are appropriate but which do not outrank their wives. Examples of these women are
Queen Elizabeth II of England---husband: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands--- husband: the late Prince Claus of the Netherlands
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark---husband: Prince Henrik, the Prince Consort
Infanta Elena of Spain---husband: Don Jaime de Marichalar, Duke of Lugo
Infanta Cristina of Spain---husband: Don Iñaki Undagarín, Duke of Palma de Mallorca
Princesses Mabel, Anita, and Aimee of the Netherlands are given the title of Princess as a courtesy, since their husbands are princes. Since the government never granted permission for them to wed their husbands-Princes Friso, Pieter-Christiaan, and Floris, respectively- their husbands lost their position in the royal house and the style of "his royal highness".
I hope that that explanation is clearer than mud...