This would characterize the then-Hereditary Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium (a first cousin of the Norwegian princesses): both were in love with other people (commoners) at the time of their wedding in in 1953, and married each other only reluctantly.

Neither really had a choice but to set aside personal feelings and bow to duty: Jean stood to forfeit his rank, titles, and succession rights if he married without the consent of his sovereign mother, the Grand Duchess Charlotte -- who made it clear that she would accept nothing less than a royal princess (of which there was a plethora of eligible candidates) for a daughter-in-law.

Josephine-Charlotte, too, stood to become an outcast -- leading a feckless existence with no real security. She had a limited education and job skills, as she (like so many of her generation) had been brought up with the expectation to marry a foreign prince. As such, marriage to the Luxembourg heir was her only real source of status and income: she was lucky to have an eligible royal catch of a husband -- with a staunch ally in her future mother-in-law. Charlotte was her godmother in more senses than one: spiritual and fairy.

Ragnhild and Astrid, however, found it nearly impossible to bow to duty and do the right thing by making correct (royal) marriages, since their options were virtually non-existent: none of those listed on paper was really plausible. Even if they had wanted to please their father and grandfather, the reality was that there were hardly any eligible foreign princes who were non-German Protestants.