Royal marriages to commoners have historically been uncommon, due to traditions of members of royal families, especially high-level ones, only marrying other persons considered to be royalty, sometimes with penalties for royals who married far below their rank, deemed morganatic marriage. Often, alliances could be created between countries or strengthened within a country through intermarriage of two royal families. On the other hand, occasionally a member of a royal family married a commoner simply due to romantic feelings or physical attraction, and possibly to endear themselves to the general population by establishing that sense of connection. This trend has accelerated and become more accepted in modern times.