- Religion has been a historically contentious topic for royal families around the world.
- Until 2015, British royal descendants who married a Roman Catholic would have to give up their spot in the line of succession.
- Meghan Markle was baptized before marrying Prince Harry to show her respect for the Queen, and royalty in Monaco and Spain have converted to join the majority faith of their countries.
- Today, many of the world's royal families reflect a variety of faiths — including some descendants of the Cambodian royal lineage, who recently celebrated a bat mitzvah ceremony.
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Recently, it was reported that Lady Kitty Spencer, the 29-year-old model and niece of Princess Diana, is taking classes to prepare for her conversion to Judaism, the religion that her fiancée practices.
Spencer won't be the first relative connected to the British royal family to publicly convert, though it's still largely uncommon for members of the UK royal family to practice a faith outside of the Church of England.
Here are members and descendants of royal families from around the world who have converted or taken on another faith.
Meghan Markle was confirmed as a member of the Anglican church before her marriage to Prince Harry.
Before marrying Prince Harry in May 2018, Meghan Markle was privately confirmed and baptized into the Church of England.
Markle chose to be baptized and confirmed ahead of the wedding — despite it not being a requirement for her marriage to the Duke of Sussex — as a sign of respect to the Queen's role as the head of the Church, the Washington Post reported.
Prince Harry, Prince Charles, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and two "sponsors" of Markle were present for the baptism, according to Vogue Australia.
Katharine, Duchess of Kent, converted to Catholicism in 1994. She was the first British royal to publicly convert since the 17th century.
Katharine, Duchess of Kent, is the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. Prince Edward is a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1994, the Duchess of Kent became the first British royal to convert to Catholicism since King Charles II, who converted to the religion in 1685 when he was on his deathbed, the LA Times reported.
The son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Lord Nicholas Windsor, also converted to Catholicism, thus giving up his spot in the British line of succession.
Lord Nicholas Windsor converted to Catholicism in 2001 — seven years after his wife, Katharine, Duchess of Kent, joined the religion.
His conversion made him the first male in the British royal line of succession to publicly convert to Catholicism since King Charles II.
Princess Alice — Prince Philip's mother and Queen Elizabeth II's mother-in-law — founded a sisterhood of Greek Orthodox nuns in the 1930s.
Princess Alice was the great grand-daughter of Queen Victoria.
The princess, who was born deaf, married into the Greek royal family in 1903, becoming the wife of Prince Andrew of Greece. Together, they had four daughters and one son, Prince Philip.
Part of Princess Alice's story was depicted in "The Crown"; one episode portrays the tragic death of her daughter, Cecile (and Prince Philip's sister), who died in a plane crash in 1937.
She founded an order of nuns in 1939 in Greece and followed Greek Orthodox faith for the rest of her life.
Princess Alice was also known for sheltering Jews during the Holocaust and is recognized by Yad Vashem for housing some members of Jewish families in her palace in Athens during the war.
The granddaughter of a Cambodian king converted to Judaism as an adult, and her daughter, Elior Koroghli, recently celebrated her bat mitzvah.
Elior Koroghli is the great-granddaughter of King Sisowath Monivong, who ruled Cambodia from 1927 until 1941, the Times of Israel reported.
Elior Koroghli is an Orthodox Jew — her mother, Sathsowi Thay Koroghli, is a Jewish convert, and her father, Ray Koroghli is a Persian Jew. In January, the 13-year-old Elior Koroghli celebrated her bat mitzvah in Cambodia.
Princess Alexandra of Hanover — Grace Kelly's granddaughter who's connected to the British and Monaco royal families — converted to Catholicism.
Princess Alexandra of Hanover is the daughter of Princess Caroline and granddaughter of famed actress Grace Kelly, who married Prince Ranier III of Monaco.
Princess Alexandra is also a paternal descendant of Queen Victoria, and before converting to Catholicism in 2018, she was a distant heir to the British throne.
The 20-year-old princess is considered an up-and-coming name as a young fashion icon. She remains in the line of succession to the Monegasque (Monaco) throne.
Queen Sofía of Spain, who also happens to be a distant cousin of Queen Victoria, converted to Catholicism after marrying King Juan Carlos I.
Queen Sofía was a follower of the Greek Orthodox Church and converted to Catholicism after marrying King Juan Carlos I to appeal to the religion of the majority of Spain.
The Spanish queen is also distantly related to the late Queen Victoria, making her a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
Princess Salwa Aga Khan, once known as American model Kendra Spears, converted to Islam ahead of marrying Prince Rahim Aga Khan.
Princess Salwa Aga Khan is an American-born model, who was formerly known as Kendra Spears.
She converted to Islam ahead of her 2013 marriage to Prince Rahim Aga Khan, son of the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslim denomination.
Princess Charlene, the daughter-in-law of Grace Kelly, also converted to Catholicism, the majority religion of Monaco.
Princess Charlene, a former Olympic swimmer who grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa, married Prince Albert II of Monaco in 2011.
Princess Charlene converted to the state religion of Monaco, Catholicism, ahead of her marriage to the prince.
She and Prince Albert II have twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, who are first and second in line to the throne of Monaco, respectively.
Queen Noor, an American born as Lisa Halaby, converted to Islam ahead of becoming part of the Jordanian royal family.
Queen Noor, whose original name was Lisa Halaby, is a graduate of Princeton University. She met King Hussein of Jordan while she was working for Royal Jordanian Airlines and later converted to Islam before marrying the king in 1978.
They were married until King Hussein's death in 1999.
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