♕ Hot Princes ♕

The hottest royal men of today and yesterday, for your enjoyment. Because William and Harry aren't even that cute, guys, come on, you're just saying that. New prince every Thursday.

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

Paging Doctor Prince.

NAME: Chakriwat Mahidol Vivacharawongse

COUNTRY: Thailand. Chakriwat’s father is Vajiralongkorn, the Crown Prince of Thailand, and his grandfather is the king, which would put Chakriwat directly in the line of succession, except things got a little...complicated. To make a long story short: Vajiralongkorn and his wife had a falling out, and not only did they divorce, he exiled her and their five children from Thailand and stripped them of their royal titles. Their only daughter, Sirivannavari, is back in Thailand, a princess once more. Her four brothers now live in the United States, where they lead normal and distinctly non-royal lives. Chakriwat lives in Florida and is a practicing doctor. 

AGE: 33

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: Medicine (he was inspired to become a doctor by his own experience with neurofibromatosis), his homeland (he wrote a heartfelt public letter to his father a couple of years ago with updates about himself and all his brothers, adding at the end that he hoped they should be allowed to return to Thailand soon)

BEST FEATURES: Floofy hair, posts endearingly low-quality pictures of self online (his lack of vanity puts some of the Arab princes to shame), he may not be a prince anymore but he is a doctor, so he’d still buy you nice stuff and all

FUN FACT: The people of Thailand have tremendous respect for their royal family. There are numerous laws against disrespecting the king or defacing his image--for example, it is illegal to place a picture of another person higher than a picture of the king on a wall or in a news article, and many Thais will avoid stepping on a coin that has fallen to the ground to stop it, because it has the king’s face on it.

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I like him better without facial hair, but that’s just me.

NAME: Whatumoana Paki

COUNTRY: New Zealand. Whatumoana is the eldest son of Tuheitia Paki, the king of New Zealand’s indigenous Māori people. Whatumoana was raised as his father’s heir (although like many Polynesian monarchies past and present, Māori succession is not necessarily hereditary), and Tuheitia, whose health is failing, has delegated more and more power to his son over the years. Despite his father’s trust in his abilities, Whatumoana’s future as a leader is not without its controversy, partly because of widespread belief that he is gay.

AGE: I’m going to say around 30. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of personal information online about Whatumoana.

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: Once again, I don’t have a lot to go on here, so I’m just going to say “long walks on the beach.”

BEST FEATURES: Crown prince, cuddly as a kakapo, cool haircut

FUN FACT: Whatumoana was named after his paternal grandfather. His paternal grandmother, Te Atairangikaahu, was a well-loved leader of her people and the longest-reigning Māori monarch (1966 until her death in 2006).

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

I’d sail with him anywhere.

NAME: Joachim Karl-Maria Nikolaus Isabelle Marcus d'Aviano

COUNTRY: Belgium. Joachim has an impressive pedigree: his father is head of the House of Austria-Este (a branch of the House of Habsburg, once the most powerful noble family in Europe), and his mother is a royal princess, sister to the Belgian King. Joachim is third in line for his father’s title (behind his siblings) and ninth in line for his uncle’s throne. Doesn’t make him any less cute.

AGE: 24

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: As you might guess from the photos, Joachim is an officer in the Belgian navy. 

BEST FEATURES: Curious resemblance to Tom Felton

FUN FACT: Prince Joachim can claim descent from the royal families of ten European countries. Every one of his grandparents and great-grandparents was royal or noble.

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Why are my posts about historical hot princes always such downers?

NAME: Yi Wu (Korean name order) (1912-1945)

COUNTRY: Korea. Wu was one of the younger princes of the Korean Imperial family, the House of Yi. Throughout the 19th century, Korea was caught in the middle of a power struggle between Russia and Japan. After Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, Korea fell under Japanese rule, and by the time Wu was born, the Korean Imperial family had become largely powerless to the whims of the Japanese government. Like many of his relatives in this time period, Wu was brought to Japan as a child to be given a Japanese education. He ultimately rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Japanese Army.

AGE: Wu met a particularly tragic end: at the age of 32, he was killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. An Adjutant Lieutenant Colonel who felt responsible for not having saved Wu’s life committed seppuku shortly thereafter. I told you this one was a downer.

MARITAL STATUS: The Japanese attempted several times to marry Wu to Japanese noblewomen but he resisted, marrying the Korean Lady Park Chan-ju instead and fathering two sons.

LOVED: His culture. Despite various attempts by the Japanese to Japan-ify him, Wu remained true to his Korean identity. He was even rumored to be a double agent, secretly helping Manchurian and Korean resistance during his military service.

BEST FEATURES: Strong convictions, looks damn good in a uniform. It’s been claimed that Suho from the K-pop band EXO looks just like him. I sorta see it.

FUN FACT: One of Wu’s sons, Yi Chung, is still alive, and there is an ongoing debate whether he or one of his relatives should be considered the head of the defunct Imperial family.

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

You just know he knows how to party.

NAME: Fahad bin Faisal al-Hipster al-Saud 

COUNTRY: Saudi Arabia. Fahad is the great-nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, and one of the estimated 15,000 members of the House of Saud, who have ruled Arabia since the 18th century and were hereditary tribal rulers well before that. Fahad lives in the US and has essentially (though not officially) renounced the duties and lifestyle of a Saudi prince in favor of working as a tech entrepreneur.

AGE: 32

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: Fashion, video games, social media. Yes, I know, a lot of Arab princes are really into social media, but Fahad takes it to a whole new level. He was Head of User Operations for Facebook Arab and helped launch an Arabic version of the site in 2009 before founding his own company, NA3M (New Arabic Media), which creates various entertainment content. He believes strongly in the potential of social media as a tool to foment social change, as seen recently during the Arab Spring.

BEST FEATURES: Hair, lips, vision, is bit of a goofball but knows when to class it up and be professional

FUN FACT: Fahad is perhaps best summed up by his Instagram tagline: “I'm the friend you have to explain to your other friends before they meet me.”

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

Hot Princes: Historical Edition!

NAME: William Charles Lunalilo (1835-1874)

COUNTRY: Hawai’i. Lunalilo was a Hawaiian noble descended from Kamehameha the Great, who founded the Kingdom of Hawai’i in the 1700s. Lunalilo was elected to the monarchy from a pool of nobles almost a century later. Plagued with health problems including alcoholism, he died young and was Hawai’i’s shortest-reigning monarch (1873-1874). He was succeeded by Kalākaua, a member of a different royal House, whose successor and sister Liliʻuokalani would be dethroned by an American-backed coup in 1893, ending the monarchy of Hawai’i.

AGE: Lunalilo died at 39. In the pictures above he’s 18-20. Most of the pictures you’ll find of him show a man much older, a bit heavier, with mutton-chops (which is what he looked like by the time he became king). For this special historical edition I’m choosing two images of him as a piercing-eyed young stud.

MARITAL STATUS: Lunalilo never married.

LOVED: Music and reading. He composed Hawai’i’s first national anthem as a young man and was a lover of English literature.

BEST FEATURES: The eyes and those long fingers really do it for me.

FUN FACT: Lunalilo’s name literally means “High-lost”, as in when something goes up so high you can’t see it anymore.

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

He’s not technically a prince anymore twice over, but in my heart he reigns eternal.

NAME: Nicholas Michael de Roumanie Medforth-Mills

COUNTRY: Romania. A branch of the German House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ruled Romania until 1947, when Nicholas’s grandfather King Michael I was forced to abdicate. Exiled to Switzerland, it would be fifty years before the new Communist regime allowed him to return to Romania. Many younger members of the royal family, including Nicholas, were born in Switzerland. Nicholas was third-in-line to the defunct Romanian throne until 2015, when his grandfather shocked Romania and the family by disinheriting him and stripping him of the title of prince. The official explanation was that he “lacked modest moral principles” becoming of a ruler. Nicholas, for his part, seems pretty okay with the decision. In his own words, “the royal life means leading my life in a way I find hard to accept.” He uses a photo of his grandpa as his Facebook profile picture.

AGE: 30

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: Travel (he took five years off between high school and college to travel around Africa), cycling, cars

BEST FEATURES: Lacks modest moral principles becoming of a ruler

FUN FACT: In 2015, Nicholas complained of the difficulties of royal life; when he tried to get pizza delivered to the royal palace, the pizza place thought it was a crank call and hung up on him.

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

Oh ‘Abdul Mateen--you may be tenth in line for the throne, but you’re first in line for my heart.

NAME: Haji 'Abdul Mateen ibni Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, but you can call him ‘Abdul Mateen

COUNTRY: Brunei. ‘Abdul Mateen is the tenth child of the Sultan of Brunei, a Southeast Asian country on the island of Borneo. Though presently surrounded by Malaysian territory and smaller than the state of Delaware, Brunei was once an Empire that ruled all Borneo and beyond. Its early history is poorly documented, but the ruling House of Bolkiah has been in power since the 14th century and perhaps even earlier. The increasing dominance of European colonial powers in the region led to Brunei becoming a protectorate of the British Empire, from which it gained independence in 1984. Like Qatar, Brunei is an absolute monarchy, giving the Sultan much more power than most modern hereditary rulers.

AGE: 24

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: Sports, particularly soccer and polo. He is also a military man and graduated from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the UK. He does use social media but keeps a low profile; his Instagram is private and he hasn’t Tweeted in years.

BEST FEATURES: Hair has personality, always looks sort of angry

FUN FACT: ‘Abdul Mateen’s dad, Sultan Hassanal, is one of the richest men in the world. The Guinness Book of Records recognizes his palace as the world’s largest private residence, with 1,800 rooms and an area of more than 2 million square feet.

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

Every once in a while I’m going to cheat and post a hot king rather than a hot prince. Forgive me.

NAME: Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk

COUNTRY: Bhutan. Located high in the Himalayas, the Buddhist nation of Bhutan was once a collection of petty kingdoms ruled by different families, including the House of Wangchuk. Beginning around the 17th century, Bhutan began to move towards unification, and a Wangchuk monarch over all of Bhutan was established (with British assistance) in 1907. The Wangchuks have a remarkable track record; each ruler of their line has brought Bhutan closer to democratization. Khesar has been king since 2006, when his dad abdicated in his favor. Two years later, he oversaw Bhutan’s transition from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy.

AGE: 36

MARITAL STATUS: Married (Jetsun Pema, m. 2011. One son, born 2016). Although polygyny is permitted in Bhutan and Khesar’s father is married to four sisters, Khesar has sworn to take no other wives. If you’ve seen Jetsun Pema, you’ll understand why.

LOVES: His people (he is called “The People’s King”, and like his predecessors takes a keen interest in the happiness of his subjects), his family.

BEST FEATURES: Dimples, ability to wear the boldest of patterns, his official title, Druk Gyalpo, means “Dragon King”

FUN FACT: To celebrate the birth of Khesar’s son in 2016, the people of Bhutan planted 108,000 trees around the country. This is further evidence that Bhutan, with its spotless environmentalist and humanitarian record, high global happiness ranking and insanely hot royal family, just does it better.

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Another hot Arab prince with a mother famous for her beauty and glamour....I’m seeing a pattern here.

NAME: Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

COUNTRY: Qatar. Mohammed is one of the twenty-four children of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the former Emir of Qatar. Mohammed’s older brother Tamim has been Emir since 2013, when their father abdicated in Tamim’s favor. Their family, the House of Thani, is of Arabian stock and have ruled since the 19th century, remaining in power as Qatar shifted from an Ottoman province to a British protectorate to an independent absolute monarchy.

AGE: 27

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: Sports (he chaired Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup), hiking and backpacking, animals (he referred to sharks as “my obsession” and has posted selfies with sloths from his trip to the Amazon), social media (again, sensing a pattern with the Arab princes)

BEST FEATURES: Smile, smile, smile, his bro rules the country with the highest per capita income in the world

FUN FACT: Mohammed’s mother, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned, is a fashion icon and has been profiled in Vogue. 

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

A smörgåsbord of sexiness.

NAME: Carl Philip Edmund Bertil

COUNTRY: Sweden. Carl Philip is the second child and eldest son of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and a member of the House of Bernadotte, which has ruled Sweden since the king died with no heir in 1818 and a council elected Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte as the new king (why did the Swedes elect a French king? They were hoping to curry favor with Napoleon). Until 1905, the Bernadottes were also the kings of Norway. As women can inherit the Swedish throne, Carl Philip’s older sister the Crown Princess Victoria and her children come before him in the line of succession.

AGE: 36

MARITAL STATUS: Married (Sofia Hellqvist, m. 2015)

LOVES: Soccer, swimming, sailing, skiing (he completed the Swedish Vasaloppet, the longest cross-country ski race in the world, in 2003), car racing, graphic design (he has designed several calendars and an album cover for charity sale)

BEST FEATURES: Height (he’s 5′11′′), resemblance to Joe Manganiello which only increases when shirtless

FUN FACT: Carl Philip suffers from dyslexia. It’s okay Carl, I’ll read to you!

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

His life story is just like Coming to America! Only not.

NAME: Adewale Ogunleye

COUNTRY: Nigeria. Adewale was born and raised in the USA, but he belongs to the Yoruba people of West Africa, who make up more than 20% of Nigeria’s population. Adewale’s grandfather was the king of a Yoruba city-state called Emure Ekiti. Despite this, Adewale’s parents chose to emigrate to America and give their son a typical American upbringing. When he returns to Nigeria to visit his extended family, Adewale is still referred to as “Prince” and given all the accompanying special treatment.

AGE: 38

MARITAL STATUS: Married (Dr. Amira Baker, m. 2014). He was previously romantically linked to singers Kelis and Michelle Williams (Michelle, who attended his wedding, claims they were just friends).

LOVES: Football. Before his retirement from the sport in 2011, Adewale played 11 seasons in the NFL as a defensive end, including stints with the Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears and Houston Texans.

BEST FEATURES: Could probably pick up and throw any other prince on this list

FUN FACT: Ogun is an important Yoruba god associated with ironwork and warfare. His name is a common element in Nigerian names, especially in the state of Ekiti where Adewale’s grandfather reigned.

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

He skated his way into my heart.

NAME: Oda Nobunari (Japanese name order)

COUNTRY: Japan. Though not a prince in the strictest sense of the word, Oda Nobunari is t̶o̶o̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶e̶ ̶  a direct male-line descendant (in the 17th generation) of Oda Nobunaga, one of the most legendary warlords in Japanese history. Nobunaga conquered most of the archipelago in the 16th century, and probably would have conquered all of Japan had not one of his generals raised a coup against him and forced him to commit seppuku. The similarity of their names is no coincidence; it was an ancient Japanese custom to give sons a name that begins with the same characters as the father’s (Nobunaga’s own sons included Nobutaka, Nobutada and Nobukatsu).

AGE: 29

MARITAL STATUS: Married (since 2010. Two sons)

LOVES: The ice. He’s a decorated (recently retired) figure skater, with four Grand Prix Final medals and three championships (Japanese national, World Junior and Four Continents) under his belt. Watch him skate! He also loves kids and has stated a desire to become a schoolteacher after his skating career is over.

BEST FEATURES: Button nose, high resistance to spinning-induced nausea

FUN FACT: In 2007, Nobunari caused some controversy and lost a few sponsorships for getting a DUI, for which he paid a fine and did community service. It’s okay, Nobu-kun. We still love you.

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It’s pronounced Ahn-DRAY-ah, ok, and it’s the Italian version of Andrew. It’s a totally masculine name. Very butch.

NAME: Andrea Albert Pierre Casiraghi

COUNTRY: Monaco. Through his mother, Princess Caroline of Hanover, Andrea is a member of the House of Grimaldi, which has ruled the city-state of Monaco with brief interruptions since the year 1297. With beautiful beaches, no income tax and a population of 30% millionaires, Monaco has a well-deserved reputation as the playground of the rich and famous. The sovereign of Monaco holds more political power within his tiny kingdom than any European monarch today.

AGE: 31

MARITAL STATUS: Married (Tatiana Santo Domingo, m. 2013. Two daughters)

LOVES: Collecting Swatch watches, horseback riding, skiing, boating, fast cars (he once had his license taken away for excessive speeding). He was a notorious playboy in his youth and was dubbed an “enfant terrible”, but marriage and fatherhood seem to have calmed his wild ways. He’s also a noted philanthropist and has done much work with charitable organizations.

BEST FEATURES: Bone structure, flowing hair (before he cut it off), the fact that he looks exactly like what you’d expect the Prince of Monaco to look like

FUN FACT: Andrea’s grandmother was American actress Grace Kelly, whose marriage to Rainier III of Monaco in 1956 made headlines around the world.

[fuckyeahhotprinces]

Figures Queen Rania’s son would make a blog dedicated to attractive people.

NAME: Hussein bin Abdullah

COUNTRY: Jordan. Hussein is the eldest child and heir of King Abdullah II and the ageless Queen Rania (who often tops lists of the world’s hottest royals herself). He is a scion of the House of Hashem, who trace their origins to the Hejaz region of the Arabian peninsula.  After WWI and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the British established three Hashemite client kingdoms in the Middle East--Jordan, Iraq and Hejaz. Of these three, only the Jordanian monarchy remains in power (Hejaz was annexed by the House of Saud and became part of Saudi Arabia, while the Iraqi Hashems were deposed and executed in the 1950s).

AGE: 21

MARITAL STATUS: Single

LOVES: Football, motorcycles, social media (just like his mother, Hussein has a big Instagram following), charity work (he founded an organization that helps children with hearing disabilities)

BEST FEATURES: Baby face, wise beyond years, not just a prince but a crown prince

FUN FACT: In 2015, Hussein became the youngest person ever to chair a UN Security Council meeting. He led a debate on preventing youth from joining extremist groups.

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The dour little Russian hipster you just want to cuddle.

NAME: Rostislav Rostislavovich “Rosti” Romanov

COUNTRY: Russia. The House of Romanov ruled Russia for just over three hundred years (1613-1917), until the forced abdication of Czar Nicholas II (Rosti’s great-great uncle) during the Russian Revolution. Months later, Bolshevik revolutionaries assassinated as many Romanovs as they could find, including the former Czar and his wife and children. A few members of the family managed to escape Russia or had the good fortune to be out of the country when the Revolution happened, and today their descendants are scattered around the world. Rosti is the only Romanov who presently lives in Russia. He was born in Illinois, grew up in England, and only learned Russian as an adult.

AGE: 30

MARITAL STATUS: Single (one son, born 2013)

LOVES: Painting (check out his website), watch-making (he is the director and chief creative advisor of Russia’s oldest factory, founded by his ancestor Peter the Great)

BEST FEATURES: Flawless complexion, imperious sneer, surprisingly deep voice, old man wardrobe

FUN FACT: Like many European nobles, he is distantly in the line of succession for the British throne. Hail King Rosti! Long may he reign.