Real-life Cinderella story

In a real-life Cinderella story, a former model and reality star will become a princess when she marries Sweden's Prince Carl Philip.

Sofia Hellqvist, 30, is known for appearing in the popular reality show, Paradise Hotel in 2005, in which a group of young singletons compete to stay the longest in a luxury resort. She has also been photographed with a boa constrictor for men's magazine Slitz.

The couple reportedly met at a restaurant in 2010 and are set to marry in a lavish wedding ceremony in Stockholm.

36-year-old Carl Philip is third in line to the Swedish throne and acts as royal representative in the absence of his father and older sister.

After her time on Paradise Hotel, Hellqvist spent time in New York where she studied accounting and worked as a yoga instructor, setting up her own yoga centre in Manhattan.

She has also worked as a volunteer in Ghana and co-founded the organisation Project Playground which helps young people in South Africa through sport and activity programmes.

Despite opinion polls showing that the Swedish Royal family's popularity has slumped in recent years as many as half a million people are expected to take to the streets of Stockholm to greet the newly-weds.