I believe it's for the preservation of their social standing. That's also how the European monarchies are dominated with Queen Victoria's bloodline. It all started with preserving the family fortune.
When discussing royals marrying nobles, don't forget the marriage between infanta Elena of Spain and Jaime de Marichalar, his father is a Spanish count.
The crownprince of egypt married an afghan princess in 2013,
I suppose the Princely Family of Ligne is regarded as Nobility not Royalty.
So, in 1981, Princess Eleonora of Brazil married Prince Michel of Ligne (now, the 14th Prince of Ligne). Later that year, her brother, Prince Antonio of Brazil, married his sister, Princess Christine of Ligne.
I’m sure they were because the Lignes are high nobility and have connections to the ruling familiesWeren't they recognized as equal (royal) by the head of the Brazilian imperial house?
They definitely were recognized by the head of the house as equals because the children of that marriage are in the succession apart from the daughter who married the Spearman Baronet.Weren't they recognized as equal (royal) by the head of the Brazilian imperial house?
I want to address this, the wills of the former ruling dynasties are just that, not house laws and they are simply about inheriting family wealth and those members who don’t marry according to the wills are free to marry whoever they want, they will just have to give up on being the next head of the family and the wealth. That is all.Perhaps, non-reigning houses never bothered to change their old marriage laws. In order for the heir to inherit the titles, head of house-ship, and fortune, they have to old marriage laws, so they have to search for royal or noble brides. For example, Hereditary Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, son of Princess Benedikte of Denmark, cannot inherit his titles if he marries Carina Axelsson because of the stipulations of his paternal grandfather's will. Prince Pedro Luis of Orleans-Braganza was said to be looking for a potential royal/noble wife for the future before his untimely death last month in accordance with dynastic law. Now it looks like his younger brother Rafael will have to do that eventually.
On the other hand, reigning dynasties, in order to be more revelant in modern society and closer to the people, have allowed for marriages to commoners. Also, many of these reigning families, their marriages and succession rules are based on constitutional approval (e.g. the Netherlands) rather than dynastic law.
It is truly their business if they want to continue to marry within their own social circles, those from those families who married unequally made their choice too. I don’t get why people are complaining? They aren’t taxpayer funded and live their own lives.The more restricting the dynastic house laws (they are not judicial laws but stipulations that no court or church would sanction) the more ridiculous the family appears. British and Irish dynastic families have always chosen their spouses from a wide gene and social pool. So called equal marriage is a Germanic conception. Look at the marriage patterns of those royal houses that are in full vigour - they are not the ones that adhere to outmoded ideas.