Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding was broadcast on television for all to see,
but what are the seemingly perfect couple like behind closed doors?
Here is the truth about Kate and William's relationship.
Many Prince William and Kate Middleton fans will know that the couple first met while
studying at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
However, this version of events is a little misleading, as Kate and William actually met
many years before their studies began.
According to the royal biographer Katie Nicholl, the pair first crossed paths in 1991, when
William was still in prep school.
Apparently, pupils from William's school went to Kate's school to play hockey.
While Kate wasn't interested in William romantically at the time, as she was just 9 years old,
she reportedly found his visit extremely exciting.
Nicholl wrote in her book Kate: The Future Queen,
"It was the first time Kate had set eyes on the young prince, but certainly not the last."
Most fans of Prince William and Kate Middleton will already know all about Kate's see-through dress.
As the story goes, the duchess was taking part in a fashion show at the university,
when she captured the prince's attention while walking the runway in a very revealing dress.
According to The Express, royal expert Rebecca English revealed,
"William saw Kate in a very see-through dress at the college fashion show.
[...] Urban myth suggests he said to his friend, 'Wow, Kate's hot.'"
As it turns out, William first met Kate prior to the fashion show.
Royal expert Katie Nicholl revealed in Vanity Fair,
"Often Kate would go running before breakfast and arrive at the dining hall just before
breakfast was over.
Within weeks William was bold enough to invite her to join him."
As they were both in relationships with other people at the time, they became friends.
So when the fashion show rolled around, William already knew Kate as a friend.
However, it may be true that the unforgettable see-through dress made William see Kate very differently.
Prince William and Kate Middleton continued to become closer friends before they eventually
started dating, and their relationship really started to blossom when they lived together
in their second year at St. Andrews.
As William revealed during their official engagement interview,
"We moved in together as friends and then because we were living together, we lived
with a couple of others as well, and it just sort of blossomed from there really."
William went on to explain how their relationship developed slowly during this period.
"When I was trying to impress Kate, I was trying to cook these amazing fancy dinners,
and all that would happen was I would burn something, something would overspill, something would catch fire."
Apparently, Kate was pretty hard to win over and wanted to remain friends at first.
She reportedly even pulled away when William tried to kiss her at a party.
Still, it sounds like their strong foundation of friendship actually ended up being a good
thing in the long run.
As William said,
"I do generally believe now that being friends with one another is a massive advantage."
After graduating from St. Andrews, Prince William and Kate Middleton's relationship changed.
As William had to return to his royal duties, Kate had to become a more public girlfriend.
And while William began his officer training in the Royal Air Force, Kate began working
at her parents' company as a party planner.
By this point, the couple's relationship was public knowledge, as they'd been photographed
on a skiing trip together in 2004.
So, it came as no surprise when Kate began appearing at various royal events.
In 2006, Kate was present at William's passing out parade at Sandhurst.
It was her first royal appearance and, according to The Daily Mail, her presence caused quite
a stir, fueling rumors of an impending marriage.
Kate and William also attended the wedding of William's step-sister, Laura Parker Bowles
that same year.
It's clear that during this period, Kate and William were going strong, even though their
lives had taken such different paths.
Even though Prince William and Kate Middleton had a strong foundation in friendship, their
romantic relationship wasn't always smooth sailing.
In fact, they broke up briefly during their early years.
According to the book Battle of Brothers: William and Harry: The Inside Story of a Family
in Tumult by Robert Lacey, the couple's 2007 break up actually took place over the phone.
Apparently, Kate was at work when William called to discuss their future, and by the
end of the phone call, they'd called things off.
However, the future duchess refused to mope around after the breakup.
In fact, as Kate revealed during the couple's official engagement interview, the breakup
ended up being a pretty good thing. She explained,
"It made me a stronger person.
You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized."
Kate also revealed that she "valued" their time apart and said,
"I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger."
While the breakup had been William's idea, he reportedly changed his mind pretty quickly.
While Prince William and Kate Middleton shared a student house at St. Andrews, they didn't
move into their first home together as a couple until 2010.
Of course, it was a sign that things were more serious than ever.
According to The Guardian, William and Kate chose a cottage in north Wales near the Prince's
Royal Air Force base.
William and Kate enjoyed a relatively normal way of life in the village.
As one local told The Daily Mail,
"I saw William jogging on his own several times near our farm.
He would wave and say hello, even though he must have run for several miles."
After eight years of dating, Prince William finally proposed to Kate Middleton in 2010
while the couple were on a trip to Kenya.
In a speech at a 2020 Buckingham Palace Reception, William opened up about the planning that
went into the proposal. As he explained,
"The African continent holds a very special place in my heart.
It is the place my father took my brother and me shortly after our mother died.
And when deciding where best to propose to Catherine, I could think of no more fitting
place than Kenya to get down on one knee."
In another meaningful nod to the past, William used his mother's ring for his proposal.
As he revealed during the couple's engagement interview,
"This is my way of keeping [Princess Diana] sort of close to it all."
On Friday, April 29, 2011, Kate Middleton walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey
and tied the knot with Prince William.
It was a huge affair, with the date being declared a national holiday in the UK.
According to The Telegraph, 24 million British people tuned in to watch the televised ceremony.
The lavish royal wedding featured a stunning Alexander McQueen wedding dress, a vintage
Rolls Royce, and plenty of fascinator-clad royals, so it should come as no surprise that
the extravagant event wasn't exactly cheap.
According to CBS News, it was one of the most expensive royal weddings of all time, costing
around $34 million, with the dress alone said to have cost $434,000.
Even though the royals splashed out on their big day, Kate reportedly did her own wedding makeup.
Even though royals are expected to be pretty much perfect at all times, they're only human,
a fact made evident by Kate Middleton's horrible experience of morning sickness during her pregnancies.
In fact, Kate was forced to reveal her first pregnancy to the public in 2012 as her illness was so bad.
In 2020, Kate spoke on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast about her experience. She recalled,
"I was really sick [...] It was definitely a challenge, not just for me but also for
your loved ones around you.
[...] William didn't feel he could do much to help, and it's hard for everyone to see
you suffering without actually being able to do anything about it."
It sounds as though the couple both struggled through Kate's first pregnancy, but even if
William couldn't do much to help, it's clear that he offered emotional support to his wife.
After the birth of their first child, Prince William and Kate Middleton set off on a royal
tour of Australia and New Zealand.
The tour was quite the success, with the couple spending time at a play center, at a wine
tasting, on a speed boat, and meeting with victims of wildfires.
Apparently, Prince George frequently stole the spotlight.
He even gave his first royal wave as he arrived in New Zealand.
Interestingly, the tour marked a moment of symmetry.
The trip marked Prince George's first royal tour, and when Prince William was a baby,
he'd also travelled to Australia with his parents on his first royal tour.
In fact, Kate and William followed in Prince Charles and Princess Diana's footsteps, traveling
to famous sites.
More than fulfilling the royal requirement of producing an heir, Kate Middleton went
on to have two more children with Prince William.
Daughter Princess Charlotte was born in 2015, and Prince Louis arrived in 2018.
The royal couple appear to have an excellent relationship with their kids, and the family couldn't be happier.
As Prince William said in the BBC1 documentary, Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health,
"Having children is the biggest life changing moment, it really is."
He went on to explain that having children was also overwhelming, as he didn't have his
mother there to help him.
However, William praised his wife, Kate, and revealed that they tried to support one another
while raising their three kids.
For Kate, motherhood is all about using personal experiences as inspiration, as she revealed
on on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast,
"I have an amazing Granny who devoted a lot of time for us."
The duchess explained that she also tries to devote a lot of time to her children, just
as her grandmother did for her.
Unlike royals of the past, Prince William and Kate Middleton were keen to give their
children a relatively normal life.
Traditionally, royals sent their children away for school and rarely showed them affection in public.
However, as journalist Neil Sean told Fox News of the Cambridge kids,
“Both Kate and William […] like the idea of having them mix with all the other children
of their age to make friends and enjoy a normal childhood without the confines of royal life
[...] William, in particular, enjoys doing this as he remembers with such great affection
how his mother, the wonderful Princess Diana, arranged all kinds of things for both him
and [his brother Prince] Harry to do, like fast-food restaurants, shows, seaside holidays and so forth."
Basically, it sounds as though Prince William is following in his mother's footsteps.
Not only do Prince William and Kate Middleton make an effort to treat their children like
normal kids, they also make an effort to be more relatable than their royal predecessors.
For instance, after the birth of their first child, Prince George, William was seen dealing
with the car seat, not a job that most royals would have previously been seen doing themselves.
In another instance, William and Kate admitted to enjoying watching box sets and ordering
a good takeout meal.
Speaking to BBC Radio 1, William confessed,
"It's a real conundrum when it comes to a pizza, curry, or Chinese."
When one of the hosts asked William and Kate if they have takeout delivered to their home
at Kensington Palace, the prince deadpanned,
"It doesn't usually get ordered to the palace [...] We tend to go and pick it up. Not ourselves."
In some ways, the Cambridges are just like any couple.
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 had an impact on just about everyone, even Prince William and Kate Middleton.
In fact, William actually contracted the virus in April, and his father, Prince Charles,
was also diagnosed with coronavirus.
Fortunately, Kate and the children didn't test positive.
However, the experience was tough for the whole family, as a source told The Sun,
"William was hit pretty hard by the virus [...] It really knocked him for six."
Apparently, the prince even struggled for breath at one point.
However, William kept his COVID diagnosis secret, and even continued with his virtual engagements.
While William was ill, this would have been an incredibly difficult time for Kate, who
was shouldering the responsibility of representing the royal family.
Later in the year, William and Kate restarted their in-person engagements when lockdown
was lifted, thanking the country's key workers for their response to the virus.
It's clear that the couple take their royal duties incredibly seriously, especially during a pandemic.
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