Top 10 Most Famous Couples in History

The couple that turned the presidency into a true matter of celebrity. When John F. Kennedy was elected to the presidency in 1960, he and his wife Jackie quickly became one of the most talked-about first couples in history. Jacqueline Kennedy was seen as a fashion icon during her husband’s ascendancy and together, the two of them brought media attention to the more personal sides of themselves that politics hadn’t seen much of before. Between John’s numerous alleged affairs and Jackie’s front-facing love of fashion, art, and culture, people couldn’t get enough. Add in their tragic ending, and it’s no wonder they went down in history.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom was not the only English monarch to resist marriage. But, she was one of the notable monarchs to truly marry for love. The queen reigned from 1837 until her death in 1901. She met Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1836, and although she liked him, she felt she was too young to marry. That would all change four years later, in 1840, when the couple was finally wed. The night after the wedding, Victoria wrote exuberant words of love and affection for her new husband in her diary. Their partnership continued until Prince Albert’s death in 1861. After the love of her life died, Victoria wore black for the rest of her life.

Just because a couple gets married does not mean their relationship is a conventional one. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, for instance, were anything but conventional. The famous Mexican painters first married in 1929. Throughout the rest of their tumultuous romance, they would both engage infidelity multiple times, and even divorced ten years into their marriage only to get remarried a year later. Things were not easy for the artists. Rivera had a terrible temper, and once even cheated on Kahlo with her younger sister, Cristina. Yikes. When the couple did remarry, however, they stayed together until Kahlo’s death in 1954, and were some of the country’s most famous figures.

Up until she met Napoleon Bonaparte, most knew the soon-to-be Empress Joséphine as Rose or Marie-Rose. She only became Joséphine de Beauharnais after marrying her first husband, Alexandre de Beauharnais. After Alexandre’s passing, she would marry Bonaparte two years later, in 1796. Napoleon was deeply infatuated with Joséphine, but evidence of her feelings for him is rather conflicting, and she almost immediately began an affair after their marriage. This enraged her husband and prompted him to engage in an affair of his own. After years of back and forth, and with no heir in sight, Napoleon and Joséphine divorced in 1810. Hey, we’ve all got our problems.

Imagine loving someone so much, you build a giant ivory mausoleum to be their final resting place. Well, meet Shah Jahan and his chief consort, Mumatz Mahal. If that second name sounds familiar to you, it should. Mahal was Jahan’s favorite wife and after Mahal died during childbirth, Jahan had the famous Taj Mahal built as her final resting place. Although Jahan had other wives, he reportedly showed the most affection to Mahal. They had a whopping 14 children together, and when Jahan died, he was buried next to her in the Taj Mahal.

Here’s a marriage of the minds. Simone de Beauvoir is perhaps best known for her dissertation “The Second Sex,” while Jean-Paul Sartre was an important voice in the existentialist movement. But, you might not know that the two philosophers had an open relationship with one another from 1929 until Satre’s death in 1980. When the two began seeing each other, they agreed that their relationship would be about connecting their souls more than anything else. They were not exclusive and allowed each other to take other lovers, but something always drew them back to one another. They shared their work, and you can sometimes spot bits of one in the writings of the other.

While Anne Boelyn wasn’t the first of King Henry VIII’s wives (and nor would she be the last), she is probably the most influential and most known today. The king met Anne Boelyn when he was still married to Catherine of Aragon, and was taken with her immediately. Anne would not sleep with him while he was still married, so Henry literally changed the religious course of an entire nation so he could get divorced… and get some. Well, it might be a bit more complicated than that, but you get our drift. Things didn’t end well for Anne Boeyln, who was eventually accused of adultery, treason, and incest, and beheaded as a result. Her daughter, Elizabeth I, when on to be arguably the country’s most famous monarch.

John Keats has written some of the most romantic poems in history, but his life was tragically cut short when he died of tuberculosis at 25. There was one woman who was left more distraught at his loss than most, and that was Fanny Brawne. Keats and Brawne fell in love when they were tenants in the same house. They wanted to marry, but circumstance kept them apart. As a struggling poet who wasn’t recognized for his talents while he was alive, Keats had nothing to offer her. He did, however, write Brawne numerous love letters that are some of the most romantic words you’ll ever read. After his death, Brawne stayed in mourning for six years.

This partnership was radioactive, if we do say so ourselves. Marie Curie was a pioneering scientist in the fields of physics and chemistry, and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Her husband, Pierre, was also her partner in all matters science and research. Marie would accomplish yet another impressive feat when the pair became the first married couple to win a Nobel Prize. Although things started off rocky between them, as Marie was Pierre’s student and did not return his advances at first, things turned out for the best and the two ended up having a long marriage. Their partnership, both professional and personal, was by all accounts a happy one, characterized by mutual respect, collaboration, and a shared passion for scientific discovery.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Juan & Eva Perón
Don’t Cry For Them, Argentina

Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas
The Lovers of the Parisian Avant-Garde

Grace Kelly & Prince Rainier III
Princess Was Her Role of a Lifetime

John Lennon & Yoko Ono
A Creative Partnership That Overtook Everything

F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald
A Free Spiriting Literary Couple for the Ages

While Cleopatra had a couple of love affairs that could end up on this list, including one with Julius Caesar himself, nothing beats her love story with Mark Antony. The two had previously met while Cleopatra was still romantically involved with Caesar but, ten years later, she would wow Mark Antony with a grand entrance that would win his heart. Unfortunately, political struggles and war would ultimately ruin them. Complications led Cleopatra to fake her death, causing Mark Antony to actually bring about his own. Brokenhearted, Cleopatra would soon follow in his steps. That’s right, you’re looking at the original Romeo and Juliet, folks.