William and Kate have been in love for years, but how did she catch his attention in the first
place? And how has their relationship evolved over time? Keep watching to learn more.
For anyone who knows anything about Prince William and Kate Middleton's love story,
the way they met is a pretty well-known fact. But, what even the most die-hard royal fan might not
know is that it wasn't exactly a coincidence that they met in college in the first place.
While meeting at University might sound innocent enough, there was more to it than that.
Kate and William actually met at St. Andrews in 2001,
and while it wasn't love at first sight, their first meeting was seriously important.
So important, in fact, that historian Robert Lacey told Elle,
"Kate was very strategic. She gave up her place at one of Britain's premier universities, Edinburgh,
and opted for another one that probably didn't have the same academic standard."
Just because Prince William and Kate Middleton went to the same college
doesn't mean it was necessarily easy for Kate to catch the young prince's attention.
In fact, there was kind of an infamous moment during a charity fashion show
when Kate was able to get William's attention — and make him see her as more than a friend.
Specifically, Kate wore a sheer dress that really got William to see her in
a different light. Robert Lacey told Elle,
"She's there and about to walk down the runway on the fashion show,
and she strips off an extra layer of clothing."
One of the couple's old college friends backed this story up,
telling E! News that Kate really captured William's heart that day, saying,
"She was in a very daring dress, in a sheer stocking-like dress. He was sitting
front row and his eyes were like stalks." As Prince William and Kate Middleton continued
to get to know each other while attending the same college, there was definitely a spark. But,
like all sparks, it took some time for it to grow into a full-on flame.
While William and Kate were getting to know each other, the pair actually lived together,
though they both denied that anything happened while they were roommates. William told ABC News,
"No we moved in together as friends because we were living together,
we lived with a couple of others as well, and it just sort of blossomed from there really.
We just saw more of each other, and, you know, hung out a bit more and did stuff."
"We just spent more time with each other, had a good giggle,
had lots of fun, and realized we sharing the same interests."
Obviously, being that Prince William is indeed a literal prince, it would be understandable if the
new young couple wanted to keep their relationship on the down low for as long as possible.
After all, once the rest of the world finds out about a relationship in the royal family,
there's little chance for privacy thereafter. And that's certainly what William and Kate Middleton
attempted to do, though their attempts were ruined when they were photographed on a romantic getaway.
Specifically, as Express reported, William and Kate were photographed on a ski trip in
Switzerland together in 2004, just three years after meeting. Apparently, the royal family's
spokesperson didn't deny that the pair were in a relationship, but they also didn't confirm
anything — so from that moment on, people couldn't stop talking about the pair's secret love affair.
Hey, even though the press eventually found out William and Kate were more than friends,
it's impressive they were able to keep it quiet for so long.
Marrying into the royal family is a seriously big deal,
but it's also a big deal just to date a member of the Firm. After all,
to become romantically involved with a royal means you could potentially marry them,
and that means you yourself would also be a member of the royal family. Additionally, there
are so many official royal protocols you have to learn before getting too close to the Firm,
and so it's natural that the relationship would have to progress pretty slowly.
But, just a couple of years after Prince William and Kate Middleton were photographed
together for the first time and rumors of their relationship began to swirl,
Kate began attending some official royal events. Specifically, William and Kate both
attended Camilla Parker Bowles' daughter Laura's wedding in 2006. Then, Kate went to William's
graduation from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, where Queen Elizabeth was as well.
Prince William and Kate certainly have had their ups and downs over the years,
but perhaps nothing is quite as well-known as the fact that they
actually broke up before they got super serious. However, as William explained
in their engagement interview, their break might have been for the best.
When asked about their split by reporters,
William said the break ended up being a positive thing, saying,
"We were sort of both finding ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff,
it was very much trying to find our own way. We were growing up, and so it was just sort of
a bit of space and a bit of things like that and it worked out for the better."
Kate added that though she wasn't happy with the split at the time,
since then, she's realized that the break made her and their relationship stronger.
"You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized."
In the fall of 2010, Prince William and Kate Middleton took their relationship to the next
level when they got engaged, setting the stage for Kate to officially join the royal family,
and making history along the way.
During their engagement interview,
William told reporter Tom Bradny that he proposed on a vacation in Kenya, saying,
"We had a little private time away together with some friends and I just decided that it
was the right time really. I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya and I proposed."
William explained why he chose to give his wife-to-be his mother's engagement ring, saying,
"I thought it was quite nice because obviously she's not going to be around to share any of
the fun and excitement of it all — this was my way of keeping her sort of close to it all."
Prince William and Kate Middleton got married on Friday, April 29,
2011 with the entire world watching. Not only did people travel from all over to
gather outside the church and palace, just hoping to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds,
but an estimated 17.6 million people tuned in to watch the nuptials, according to Hello! magazine.
Additionally, the United Kingdom made the wedding day a national holiday,
so people could take the day off to watch the wedding on television or travel to London.
Basically, it was a huge, historic event and one that won't be forgotten any time soon.
"'Til death us do part."
"'Til death us do part.'"
After the high from their huge, extravagant wedding and romantic honeymoon died down,
Prince William and Kate Middleton got right back to work when they returned home to London.
In fact, their first official royal duty as a married couple involved meeting with
another high-profile couple from across the pond: William and Kate met Barack and
Michelle Obama on their trip to London, and it seemed like a happy occasion.
In fact, a palace spokesperson told Politico that
both of the couples had a great time meeting each other, saying,
"Very warm words have been spoken between the royal family and the Obamas. There is a genuine,
genuine — and I really mean this — a genuine warmth between the two families."
As if Prince William and Kate Middleton's new life together as husband and wife
wasn't charming enough, in 2013, two years after their fairytale wedding,
they welcomed their first child into the world. Prince George was born at 4:24 pm on July 22,
2013 at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London. Just hours after Kate gave birth,
she stood on the steps of the hospital to pose for photos with her husband and newborn baby,
something any mom would understand to be seriously stressful.
"He's a big boy, he's quite heavy. But uh, we're still working on a name."
Years later, while speaking to the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast,
Kate explained that the experience was, quote, "slightly terrifying." Additionally, Kate added,
"For us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was
really important. But equally it was coupled with a newborn baby, and inexperienced parents,
and the uncertainty of what that held, so there were all sorts of mixed emotions."
Even though Kate Middleton had a rough pregnancy when she carried her and Prince
William's first-born, Prince George, she went on to have two more children with her husband.
Princess Charlotte was born at 8:34 am on May 2, 2015 at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London,
the same hospital where Prince George was born. That's also where William and Kate's third child
came into the world; Prince Louis was born at 11:01am on April 23, 2018. For all three births,
Kate posed for the same photo with her newborn baby and husband by her side.
When Prince William's younger brother and his wife, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, sat down
with Oprah Winfrey to discuss the details of their time in the royal family, things didn't look good
for the Firm. The couple revealed just how hard things were in the family for Meghan, and Harry
described some tense relations between himself and his brother and father, Prince Charles.
"The relationship is space at the moment."
So once the world knew of their family drama,
William and Kate Middleton really had to lean on each other for support.
A source told Us Weekly that Kate especially had been super strong for her husband, saying,
"Kate's used to all eyes being on her. Being in a strong, solid marriage to William helps.
They lean on each other for support during difficult times and will talk through their
problems. She's been her husband's pillar of strength throughout this whole ordeal."
Pretty much everyone knows just how much Queen Elizabeth loves her corgis, and it seems as though
a love of dogs runs in the family. To that end, Prince William and Kate Middleton are dog people,
and have a special fondness for cocker spaniels. When the couple were still newlyweds,
they adopted a cocker spaniel puppy, Lupo, who was with the family for nine years before he died.
William and Kate took to Instagram to share the sad news,
proving just how much the dog meant to them. The post read,
"Very sadly last weekend our dear dog, Lupo, passed away.
He has been at the heart of our family for the past nine years and we will miss him so much."
Fortunately, William and Kate had already gotten a new p uppy — another cocker spaniel from Kate's
brother, James Middleton — to help Lupo in his old age. A source told the Daily Mail,
"The new puppy is adorable and the whole family are besotted."
The death of Prince Philip in April 2021 hit the royal family hard,
but Prince William and Kate Middleton helped each other cope with the devastating loss. The
couple released a formal statement on Instagram announcing the death of William's grandfather,
but it wasn't until a couple days later that they opened up about just how hard they were
taking his passing. In another Instagram post, William expressed his heartache over the loss but
said that he was happy his grandfather at least had the opportunity to bond with Kate. He wrote,
"I will always be grateful that my wife had so many years to get
to know my grandfather and for the kindness he showed her."
As a couple, Kate and William sent out thank
you cards to people who had expressed support after Philip's death, writing,
"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge thank you for your kind words following the
death of The Duke of Edinburgh. Their Royal Highnesses have been incredibly
moved by the many thoughtful messages they have received in recent weeks."
It wasn't the first time that the couple had to deal with the loss of a beloved grandparent.
Kate's grandmothers both died in 2006, and Prince William — then her boyfriend — took time away from
his military training in order to rent a yacht to treat Kate to some time to help ease her grief.
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