Royals aren't exactly just like us — and it often seems like their relationship troubles
can be larger-than-life, too. Time and time again, members of the royal family have repeatedly
found themselves involved in forbidden romances, secret trysts, and all kinds of other drama.
Remember when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kept their relationship on the down-low, or
when Princess Anne married someone regarded by her peers as a "commoner"... twice?
Then again, some royals have wound up in more relatable relationship drama. In the case
of Prince William and Kate Middleton, that came in the form of a brief breakup, before
they eventually found their happily ever after. Indeed, many couples go through a rough patch
before exchanging vows, and apparently so did William and Kate. Unfortunately, William's
preferred method of dumping wasn't exactly what you would call regal.
Prince William and Kate Middleton's brief breakup has always been public knowledge,
but details about the split were murky at best. It wasn't until the release of Battle
of Brothers, a book written by royal biographer Robert Lacey, that we finally found out what
happened between the royal couple.
In 2007, about six years after they became boyfriend and girlfriend, William reportedly
felt "uncertain" about his future with Kate. So, in the middle of her workday as an accessories
buyer, he called her up and broke things off over the phone. According to an excerpt from
Battle of Brothers, they split on April 11th, 2007, after an hour-long phone call. Lacey
writes:
"Kate excused herself from a meeting at Jigsaw, the fashion store with which she'd recently
started working, to take a call from William in a room out of earshot of the other buyers.
She shut the door for more than an hour. When she came out, she was single."
Obviously, the breakup was incredibly brief, reportedly only lasting 10 weeks. Lacey continues:
"William had found dating difficult, for a start, when a surprising number of young women
from his circle turned him down flat. The prince missed his family — which by now
meant the Middleton family."
Although brief, Prince William and Kate Middleton think their split made them better people.
In her engagement interview, she said:
"I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger, and I really valued
that time for me as well although I didn't think it at the time."
Prince William himself reaffirmed the statement, saying that they needed the space at the time.
In the same interview, he said:
"We both were very young, it was at university, 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
and 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."
Since their wedding day, the royal couple has arguably only become closer, and their
relationship appears to be getting stronger with each passing year. After Prince Harry
and his wife Meghan Markle announced their decision to step down from senior royal duties
in 2020, Kate Middleton took on a larger role in royal charity work, with Prince William
by her side. During the height of COVID-19, the duo focused efforts on the pandemic, showing
support to frontline workers and those helping the nation get through the health crisis.
For example, in February, Prince William and Kate spoke to trainee nurses during an NHS
video call, in which they learned about the struggles of a first-year adult nursing student
named Abigail. Kate has also turned her attention to mental health and shared an Instagram video
that urged Brits to speak to their children about as much.
It seems this increased time spent working together has only brought the pair closer
together. Following Meghan Markle's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, Prince
William was said to be "very protective" of his wife, and Kate herself appears to have
stood by his side at pretty much every public appearance since — including the funeral
of his grandfather, Prince Philip. If nothing else, it seems that William's unceremonious
dumping of Kate is very much water under the bridge for this royal couple.
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