The wedding of Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria was the invitation of the season. Dozens of royals descended on Stockholm in June to help celebrate the country's first royal wedding since 1976. Among the guests were Monaco's Prince Albert, the Netherlands' Queen Beatrix and Jordan's Queen Rania (who tweeted about the event).
Princess Victoria married former gym owner Daniel Westling in a lavish ceremony estimated to have cost $2 million. The princess wore a 16.5 foot train dress was topped with a cameo tiara made of gold, pearls and cameos that her mother had worn to her own wedding. It had style watchers around the globe dissecting what the world's royals were wearing.
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Sweden's crown princess is one of 13 young royals who have captured our attention this year, and she comes in at No. 3 on our list. Indeed, one YouTube clip of Princess Victoria's wedding day has been viewed over 235,000 times so far. Even toy giant Mattel jumped in, introducing a Princess Victoria doll this year.
Topping our list is Britain's Prince William, who has over 8 million Google hits and numerous fan sites feverishly speculating whether the second in line to the British throne will or won't ask long-time girlfriend, Kate Middleton, to be his wife. Royal watchers would love a redux of the famed 1981 nuptials of his parents, Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.
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Prince William's cousin, Zara Phillips (No. 7), is also talking about marriage to her live-in boyfriend, rugby player Mike Tindall. She is reportedly waiting for the palace's blessing, and timing may depend on when and whether Prince William intends to marry.
Monaco's Prince Albert, the playboy prince who once dated Brooke Shields and Claudia Schiffer and made headlines when he acknowledged fathering two illegitimate children, is settling down, too. In June he announced his engagement to Charlene Wittstock after he presented the former South African Olympic swimmer with a ring reportedly worth $100,000.
Wittstock (No. 4), who has been increasingly covered by the press since she moved to Monaco in 2006 and began being seen with the Prince, will be closely followed as she plans the royal wedding, rumoured to be next summer. She will become the principality's first crown princess since the death of Princess Grace in 1982.
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Sports have also shone a spotlight on certain royals. The World Cup brought thousands of soccer fans to the tiny Royal Bafokeng Nation, which spent $70 million upgrading its 39,000-seat stadium and building a special sports training complex for the UK team. King Leruo Tshekedi Molotlegi (No. 13) hopes to use sports to help boost the living standards of the nation's population of 300,000.
Meanwhile, the UK's Princess Beatrice (No. 6), granddaughter of England's Queen Elizabeth, completed the London Marathon, apparently the first royal to do so, while also setting a new Guinness World Record by taking part in a "human caterpillar," a chain of 30-plus runners led by Sam and Holly Branson, the son and daughter of billionaire Sir Richard Branson.
But perhaps the most unforgettable sports moment for a royal this year was when Prince Harry fell off his horse at a polo event on New York's Governor's Island in June. It was a moment memorialised in local tabloids, proving that royals may live a glamorous, high-end lifestyle but it is one that offers little chance of escaping the media glare.
To compile the ranking, Forbes counted international Web and media buzz determined by Google and Factiva mentions, family wealth, as well as newsworthy activity over the past year. Only royals, or in one case, Charlene Wittstock—a soon to be royal—under the age of 45 were considered.
