For most, meeting Prince Charming – and then enjoying a fairytale wedding – remains an idle daydream…but for one woman, the fantasy became a reality after she fell for a real-life royal in a Washington D.C nightclub.
Ariana Austin, now 41, was just 20 when she met Joel David Makonnen Haile Selassie – an Ethiopian prince, now 43, in 2005, after he used a cheesy pickup line to catch her attention.
At the time, she had no idea that Joel – a great-grandson of Haile Selassie I, the last emperor of Ethiopia – had royal lineage.
And it took months before Austin found out that the man she was dating was a prominent member of the African nation’s royal family – and even then, only after one of his friends spilled the beans.
After 12 years of dating, the happy couple finally wed in September 2017; they divide their time between Washington and Los Angeles, traveling the world, staying in luxury hotels and partying with other royals.
Roll back 20 years ago though, and Austin was just like any other student, care-free and partying in between exams and deadlines.
She described the moment that she first cast eyes on her now husband, revealing that he walked up to her and her friend and said: ‘You guys look like an ad for Bombay Sapphire!’.
The princess added that she found his comment ‘random’ but funny and after that the pair were ‘drawn’ to each other.
Ariana Austin Makonnen, 41, from Washington D.C. tied the knot with His Imperial Highness Prince Joel, 43, in 2017 (pictured) after meeting in a nightclub in 2005
Ariana initially didn’t know about her then boyfriend’s illustrious family history and only discovered his royal ties after a friend dropped it into conversation six months in
She told Tatler: ‘We started to talk and it was magnetic. He said within five minutes “You know, you’re gonna be my girlfriend”, I started laughing, and then I said, yes.’
The academic also revealed that her life could have gone in a very different direction and explained that on that fateful night she lost her phone and was only able to get back in touch with her Prince Charming after checking her phone messages and seeing he had left his number.
The pair tied the knot in a traditional ceremony held over five days with Austin converting to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, taking classes with a priest the summer before the nuptials.
After the ceremony, the pair celebrated with a formal reception at Foxchase Manor in Manassas, Virginia.
Austin told ABC following the nuptials that she was ‘happy’ and ‘excited’ to join the Ethiopian monarchy, but admitted she was a little nervous over the ‘weight’ of the title.
‘It feels pretty weighty but I’m excited,’ she admitted. ‘It’s the world’s oldest monarchy and there’s just something pretty powerful about that.
‘Of course I’m happy to be a part of it and I hope I can be of service and take all this good will and all this good energy and just turn it back and do good work in our countries.’
And the new princess confessed that at first she just felt like a normal woman dating a normal man because it took her six months to discover her boyfriend was in fact a royal.
The happy couple were initially drawn to each other after Joel used a cheesy pick up line on his now wife and convinced her to go out with him
The pair now work together on their media entertainment company Old World/New World and are committed to educating people about the Ethiopian monarchy
Austin revealed: ‘He grew up in exile in Europe and had gone to boarding school in Switzerland. I think he just wanted to keep it just for us for a bit.
‘I didn’t know so much about the Ethiopian Royal family per se, but I knew about Haile Selassie, partly because of my Guyanese background.
My mum is from the Caribbean, so they are very knowledgeable about Haile Selassie because of the Rastafarian connection’.
Austin grew up in Washington, D.C. and was born into a family of professors, philanthropists, and politicians.
His Imperial Highness Prince Joel was born in Rome in 1982 while his parents, Prince David and Princess Adey Imru, were in exile from Ethiopia. He describes his childhood in Switzerland as ‘low profile’.
The prince previously revealed he hadn’t been able to tell his girlfriend about his family and left it to one of his friends to let slip.
He told Insider: ‘I didn’t tell her directly. It was actually one of my friends, he was teasing her and saying, “You’re so lucky, you have a great boyfriend, and he’s a prince.”‘
As for how she reacted, he explained that she took it with a ‘sense of seriousness,’ which was different from what he’d seen in the past.
He added: ‘I’ve had all types of reactions. First, it’s like, “I don’t believe you.” Or, it’s like, “OK, where’s your limousine? Where’s your butler? Where’s your palace?” And I say, “Well, all of that is in my home country.”‘
He also told ABC: ‘I always kind of like had my own way to introduce it, but [my friend] just put it out there and I kind of laughed it off.
‘But then she turned to me and said, “What? Is he serious? What does he mean?”. She kind of got it right away in the most respectful sense.
‘She was like, “Wow, don’t shrug. It’s a big deal. I’m really impressed and it’s amazing.”
Austin told the outlet she was ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the news, but ‘didn’t know the full scale of what it meant for them then.’
The pair now work together on their media entertainment company Old World/New World, which is ‘committed to storytelling in many forms – from film and television to books – focused on powerful Black stories that inspire global audiences,’ according to its website.
They have previously worked on a biopic of Joel’s great-grandfather, Haile Selassie I, as well as a new TV show that’s been described as like The Crown but ‘with the Ethiopian monarchy.’
‘A big part of what we want to bring forth is these stories that can show that Africa has a very long history and tradition,’ Joel said to Insider.
‘In Ethiopia, it’s so second nature that it’s surprising when we go abroad and somebody says, “Oh, I didn’t know you had a monarchy or that it was that recent.”‘
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .