They both left their lives as 'commoners' to marry into a foreign royal family.
Yet the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, 41, and Princess Mary of Denmark, 50, couldn't be more different.
While Australian-born Mary, formerly Mary Donaldson, embraced her new royal title after relocating to Denmark, Meghan has burned all bridges with Britain's monarchy for good.
As Meghan continues to throw barbs at The Firm in her latest Netflix docuseries, we take a look at how Mary set the gold standard for life as a modern princess.
Born in Tasmania, Mary met Frederik of Denmark by chance at a Sydney pub in 2000.
They maintained a long-distance relationship for a year, with Frederik making secret trips Down Under before Mary moved to Denmark to study the Danish language at Copenhagen's Studieskolen in 2001.
The couple married in 2004 and now have four children.
Mary's decision to marry a Danish royal came with its own challenges - she had to relinquish her Australian citizenship and change religion from Presbyterianism to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark.
Mary also had to learn a new language and familiarise herself with Danish history and culture, as well as cope with the challenges of going from a nobody to one of the most talked-about and photographed women in the world.
Yet Mary did so without a word of complaint to the media - something Meghan has failed to achieve.
Mary, who will one day become the Queen of Denmark, has always steered clear of scandal.
Over the years, she has refused to speak negatively about others to the media and maintained a dignified silence amid controversies such as Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's recent royal title scandal.
Earlier this year, it was announced that four children of Queen Margrethe's youngest son, Prince Joachim, would be stripped of their royal titles and would no longer be known as His or Her Royal Highness.
As of January 1, Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, will become Counts and Countesses, and will be known as Their Excellencies.
Frederick and Mary's four children - Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 11 - remain unaffected as they are direct descendants of the future King.
However, Princess Mary suggested that might not always be the case.
'We will look at our children's titles when the time comes,' she said in an interview with Ekstra Bladet in Copenhagen.
'Today we cannot see what the royal house will look like when it is Christian's time, or when Christian's time begins to approach.'
She also defended her mother-in-law's decision, saying:
'Change can be extremely difficult and can really hurt. I think most people have tried it. But this does not mean that the decision is not the right one.'
'I can understand that it is a very difficult decision to have to make, and also a very difficult decision to receive.'
Meghan, on the other hand, was reluctant to accept the expectations that come with marrying a prince.
Since stepping down as a senior royal in 2020, Meghan has clung to the spotlight by taking endless public swipes at The Firm and the British press.
She has also complained at length about dealing with the British press, despite having plenty of experience with fame prior to becoming a Duchess.
Media was quite the savvy media operator prior to meeting Harry, maintaining friendships with British WAGS and tabloid journalists like Piers Morgan.
In contrast, Mary had no experience with the press prior to becoming a royal.
'I'm sure Mary looks at what Meghan has done and is horrified by it,' royal expert Phil Dampier told New Idea in 2020.
'Mary is dedicated to her role supporting Queen Margrethe and she must feel Harry and Meghan have let down Queen Elizabeth.
'If Mary had "done a Meghan," it would be like [her] marrying Frederik, and then within two years, luring him back to Australia where they met and taking him away from his family and destiny,' Dampier added.
In Meghan and Harry's new Netflix documentary, for which they were reportedly paid $150million (AUD), the American-born duchess complained at length about what a shock it was to join the Royal Family.
Meghan, who was brought up as a Christian, was baptised into the Church of England before she married Harry but reportedly didn't have to be.
'Baptism, as we understand it in the church, is a free adult decision and is not required for marriage,' Reverend Ruth Meyers said.
In the series, Meghan claimed she was 'surprised' by the family's formality, noting that she was a 'hugger' - something she did not realise was 'jarring for some Brits'.
She said that her sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, was 'formal' behind closed doors and that Kate found her hugging 'jarring'.
However, an unnamed friend has contradicted Meghan's version of events, telling PEOPLE that Kate is in fact a 'big hugger'.
'She is warm and friendly and greets everyone with a big hug and kiss. It comes naturally to her to be like that,' they said.
Meghan also appeared to mock royal protocol by performing an exaggerated curtsey while describing her first encounter with the late Queen Elizabeth II.
She said the whole occasion felt like an antiquated banquet at Medieval Times, a family dinner theatre in the U.S. featuring staged medieval-style games, sword-fighting and jousting.
Meghan claimed she had to google the British national anthem and wasn't given a Princess Diaries-esque crash course on royal etiquette.
Harry also spoke of his wife's turmoil, claiming his family had asked why Meghan needed more protection than other royals.
He said they had not understood the 'race element' and had displayed a 'huge level of unconscious bias'.
'What people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well,' Harry said on the Netflix documentary.
'So it was almost like a rite of passage, and some of the members of the family were like, "My wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?''
'I said "The difference here is the race element".'
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The Duke of Sussex will appear in an upcoming interview on Saturday evening (4 March) to speak about his controversial memoir, Spare.
But the livestreamed event for readers of the book comes just days after it emerged that he and the Duchess of Sussex have been asked to vacate their UK residence, Frogmore Cottage.
Experts believe that Prince Harry has more “ammunition” against the royal family and could reveal further bombshells during the interview tonight as he has “nothing to lose” following the eviction.
The live event will see Harry speaking with Dr. Gabor Mate, author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture. He will also answer questions from Spare readers.
This week, the Sussexes confirmed that they had been asked to move out of Frogmore Cottage. Sources said the couple were “stunned” by the King’s reported plans to offer the keys to their former home to the disgraced Duke of York.
Royal biographer Phil Dampier, who has authored several books about the royal family, told the Daily Mail that what Harry says tonight will likely determine whether or not he and Meghan will be invited to the King’s coronation this May.
He said that the King and the Prince of Wales expected Harry to “stop giving interviews” after giving several interviews to promote Spare, but “it seems not."
“He may feel he has nothing to lose after being booted out of Frogmore Cottage,” Dampier claimed. “So sadly, with just nine weeks to the coronation, relations between him and his family seem to be getting harmed, not better.”
The expert’s comments came after a source claimed that the Sussexes were “not fighting” their eviction and recognized they were “very privileged” to have had a second home.
Dampier said there is no telling what Harry will say during the interview, but suggested it will be “part publicity for his book and part therapy."
“He has said his book could have been double the length, so he still has plenty of ammunition,” he continued. “His attacks could get much more vicious, which could result in him and Meghan not being invited to May.”
This week, a royal commentator told The Independent that if Harry and Meghan were to be absent from the coronation, it would “cast a shadow” over the big event.
Mayah Riaz, who is also a celebrity manager, said that the King’s decision to evict the couple from their UK home suggests there is “clearly a rift” between them.
“This shows that King Charles is making a clear break from Harry and Meghan and sends a loud message to everyone because of their position,” she added.
Harry’s tell-all autobiography became the fastest-selling non-fiction book ever, with 400,000 copies across hardback, ebook and audio formats sold on its first day of publication.
In the book, he claimed that the Prince of Wales physically attacked him and “knocked [him] to the floor”. Harry also alleged that Prince William called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.
He also claimed that, following his birth, the King told Diana, Princess of Wales, that his arrival was wonderful but now that she had given him an “heir and a spare”, “his work was done”.
The Independent has contacted the Sussexes’ representatives and Buckingham Palace for comment.
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