Though it's far from normal to have your wedding televised around the globe with two billion
people watching, Will and Kate are refreshingly normal despite their royal status.
From the way they met to their long road to the altar, the strangest things about Will
and Kate's marriage are the same things that most married couples deal with.
Here's what you may not have known about Prince William and Kate's marriage.
The dress that brought them together
Though they had met once before through mutual friends, it was Kate's catwalk during a charity
fashion show in 2002 at St. Andrew's that had Prince William scrambling to win a date
with his future wife.
In 2011, the year of Will and Kate's wedding, the notorious sheer dress designed by Charlotte
Todd sold at auction for a whopping 78,000 pounds.
The buyer, who remained anonymous, said it was an "iconic piece," and that he was "happy
with the purchase."
Their epic break-up
You think your breakup was bad?
Try being in a longterm relationship with the future King of England.
According to Marcia Moody's biography of the Duchess of Cambridge, in 2006, Will and Kate
had been together for four years by then.
By 2007, the couple was spending more time apart.
When William did return to London, he went out to club … without Kate.
By March 2007, they had officially broken-up.
Kate, for her part, put on a brave face.
But William began having second thoughts.
Though they weren't seated together, only a few months later, in July 2007, Kate was
an invited guest at Will and Harry's Concert for Diana.
That seemed to signal that the couple had reconciled.
Education first
Kate and William met at the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland.
Kate was pursuing a degree in Art History, and in 2005, she graduated with honors, making
her the first royal wife in the history of the United Kingdom to hold a college degree.
William, for his part, majored in geography.
Recently, at her sister's Pippa's wedding, it was revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge
is also a talented artist, as she sketched the illustration of the church where Pippa
was married on the couple's wedding programs.
A coat of arms
Because the Duchess of Cambridge hails from a "commoner" family the Queen awarded her
family with an honorary coat of arms upon her marriage to William in 2011.
The coat of arms bears three acorns, representing the three Middleton children — Kate and
her siblings Pippa and James — and the area in England where the family hails from, West
Berkshire.
Thanks to Kate's royal marriage, both of her siblings are entitled to the family's new
coat of arms.
Age matters
On top of being the first "commoner" to marry a future English king, Kate was also the oldest
British royal bride at the time of their wedding in 2011 — at the ripe, old age of 29.
In the long tradition of royal marriage, royal brides were usually teenagers.
There were some exceptions, though.
Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII, was 30.
Historians estimate Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife, to have been about 32 when she married
Henry, but unlike William, he was already a reigning king.
In more modern comparisons, Princess Diana was just 20 when she married Prince Charles,
and Queen Elizabeth was just 21 when she married Prince Philip.
No prenup
Despite advice from royal advisors, William reportedly refused a prenuptial agreement
on his wedding to Kate.
According to one of his friends, "William was advised that some sort of legal agreement
might be a good idea.
But he loves Kate and trusts her implicitly, and was adamant that no agreement was necessary."
No small feat for the British royal family, whose recent divorces, most notably, that
of William's parents, Charles and Diana, have left the monarchy scrambling with how to deal
with royal splits.
No ring, either
Fans of the royal couple may have noticed over the years that the Duke of Cambridge
does not wear a wedding band.
Early on in the marriage, William addressed the issue, with his aides claiming it was
simply a matter of "personal preference," as the Duke does not like to wear jewelry.
He may have picked up the quirk from his grandfather, Prince Philip, who has never worn a ring.
Kate, on the other hand, does wear a simple gold Welsh band, a longstanding tradition
of the English royal family, in addition to her engagement ring, which belonged to Princess
Diana.
A royal allowance
Prince Charles is in charge of allocating royal funds to cover the expenses of public
life for his two sons, daughter-in-law, and his wife, Camilla.
The dependents get a portion of about five million dollars to cover travel expenses,
wardrobe costs, and more.
Though the specific cut that Will and Kate receive is not public knowledge, the palace
relays that Will and Kate pay for their own country home and personal staff, including
nannies and assistants.
A chance to escape
In an interview with the BBC right after their engagement, when asked about the pressures
of public life, William revealed he wanted to give Kate a chance to back out if the royal
lifestyle wasn't for her, saying, "I wanted to give her a chance to see in and to back
out if she needed to before it all got too much.
I'm trying to learn from lessons done in the past and I just wanted to give her the best
chance to settle in and to see what happens on the other side."
Despite their royal status and intense public scrutiny of their marriage, the strangest
thing about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge seems to be that they're actually quite normal.
The long courtship, their break-up, and overall responsibility for themselves and their two
children, George and Charlotte, make Will and Kate fairly relatable as far as celebrity
couples go.
It's easy to see that theirs is a true marriage for love, with all the challenges that go
with it, from William's partying a bit too hard on a ski weekend to Kate managing Prince
George's bad behavior at Pippa's wedding.
Royals — they're just like us.
Who knew?
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