Best chances of marrying European nobility?

Serious answer here.

I happen to know a few people from the "lower-ish" nobility (think Baron/Count, etc) and to get in there´s a few simple questions.

1. Are you a commoner? If (most probably) so, don't fret. If not, great, but don't party too soon, a mere Knight cannot hope to get a Duchess or whatever on title alone.

2. What kind of commoner are you? If you're rich (and you better be), for how long has your family been rich? One generation, you're out. Two or more generation? Okay, with what? Banking? Top, you're in, enjoy your free comtessa. Industry, SME type of beat? Not too bad, do they have connections? Yes - not bad chances (ultra-peasants like the Rockefellers did it). Entertainment? Depends on the type, but probably not. Sports? No, sports are a result of riches (think racing, equestrian arts, tennis, etc), not their cause. Intellectual stuff? Depends, no journalists and related things. Philology, mathematics, big brain stuff? Very nice, but also a result of riches (3 generations rule and such). Rule of thumb, if your family (or the guy that made your family rich/famous) has its own Wikipedia article, you're solid.

3. Connections, do you have them? Rule of thumb here, if you gotta ask, you probably don't. How to get them? Well, parents, mostly. Go to famous boarding schools, rub shoulders, do coke/read Nietzsche/play tennis with your mates, and it should all work out - if your social status stays high, that is. If you weren't so lucky, there's a few ways, mostly by rubbing shoulders in areas these people favour, which are overwhelmingly banking, law, forestry, oenology, and rich-kid studies, such as art history. Example in point, the work colleague of a family friend (who's a Baron), he's being taken onto social gatherings. Provided you can get a friend with rank and name, and provided you have the social skill to thrive in these environments (I personally do not), you can "work our way up" the social tree - from burghers, to Barons, to Dukes, to Princes. Or you are very Catholic, the you write a nice letter to Eduard von Habsburg (very nice man), meet him in Rome, shake hands, and then start from there (I´m dead serious here).

To sum it up, these people are called noble for a reason - they do not, as a general rule, open their skirts to every charming fella with 250k job and a Wharton degree. Money's not even that important here, it's class, history, knowledge, connections. I can't tell you how to get there, but I can tell you that it's pretty fucking difficult if the cards are not already stacked in your favour - but that's what true nobility is, no, excellence in the face of adversity? (BTW, read CS Lewis' treaty on the necessity of knights)