Princess Alexandra of Denmark stands to lose both her royal title and her tax-free income of £130,000.

But for the woman known to an adoring Danish public as the Diana of the North, her split from the royal family has not meant the end of the fairytale.

The Danish Royal Court has announced that the former wife of Prince Joachim, the younger son of Queen Margrethe II and second in line to the throne, has chosen love over money and will marry a photographer who is nearly 15 years her junior.

Under the terms of an agreement struck with the royal household when she divorced from the prince two years ago, Princess Alexander, 42, will lose her stipend and her membership of the royal family, becoming Countess of Frederiksborg when she ties the knot with Martin Jorgensen, 28, on March 3.

It is the latest twist in the extraordinary story of Alexander Manley, the eldest of three daughters of British and Chinese, ancestry who met Prince Joachim at a party in 1994 in her native Hong Kong when he was working for a Danish shipping company.

He asked for her hand the following year at a Philippine holiday resort, taking both the Danish Royal Court and her family by surprise.

She had to renounce her British citizenship and end her career in marketing prior to a spectacular wedding at one of Denmark’s most picturesque castles.

The comparisons with Diana, Princess of Wales, were obvious and instant. Princess Alexandra, the first woman of Asian origin to marry into a European royal family, became popular overnight with the Danish public and well-known for her sense of style and her charity work.

She first met Mr Jorgensen, then a 21-year-old photographer and film-maker, when he came to her home at Schackenborg Castle just north of the German border, to shoot a film about her husband called simply Prince Joachim.

The royal marriage produced two sons, Nikolai, 7, and Felix, 4, but by the summer of 2004 the Danish newspapers were reporting that their relationship was in trouble.

In 2005 the prince and princess became the first Danish royals to divorce since 1846.

Princess Alexandra began to be seen in public with Mr Jorgensen, described variously as a smart and successful young man with a brilliant future in film-making, and as a party animal who fathered a daughter at 16, according to the Jylland-Posten newspaper.

The new Countess of Frederiksborg will not have to give up everything to follow her heart, however. She will keep the villa in the elite Osterbro district of northern Copenhagen where she now lives with her fiancé and her two children.

Princess Alexandra remains well-loved in her adopted country and yesterday Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, wished her well in her new life.

The Danish Royal Court has also accepted Princes Alexandra’s new man and they were both invited to Prince Joachim’s New Year’s party at the castle where she used to live as his wife.

Dynasty of the Great Danes

The Danish monarchy can trace its lineage back to the Viking king Gorm the Old, who died in AD 959

Princess Dagmar of Denmark married Tsar Alexander, left, of Russia, in 1865. Her grandson’s haemophilia led to Rasputin being introduced to the court

In 1871 Princess Thyra, the youngest daughter of Christian IX and Queen Louise, gave birth out of wedlock. The father, her lover Lieutenant Wilhelm Marcher, committed suicide. The child was given up for adoption

Christian IX's youngest son, Valdemar, married French Princess Marie of Orléans. She had an anchor tattoo and rode a bull in Bernstorff Park

It was calculated this year that the “extremely beautiful” Crown Princess Mary represents DKK 12 billion (£1 billion) of the country's DKK 772 billion (£68 billion) brand value Sources: Copenhagen Post, International Herald Tribune, Royal Family (Danish TV show)

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