Many people around the world know that Prince William and Kate Middleton's relationship began
in the early 2000s, but was that actually when they first met? Stay tuned to find out!
These two both attended St. Andrews University in Scotland, and sometime after they'd met at school,
William apparently paid £200 for a front-row seat to a student fashion show in which
Middleton modeled a see-through dress. In 2002, he was said to be moving in with three friends,
including Kate. A couple of years later, the two were photographed together for the first time,
and in 2010, he proposed to her with Princess Diana's engagement ring.
"But uh, I took her up somewhere nice in, uh, in Kenya and, uh, and proposed."
They tied the knot on April 29, 2011, and they welcomed Prince George into the world in 2013.
They had Princess Charlotte in 2015, and Prince Louis was born in 2018. Indeed, the two have been
through a lot together, but their very first meeting might surprise the biggest royal fan.
While the relationship between them started up in college,
they are rumored to have met many years before.
In her book Kate: The Future Queen, author Katie Nicholl shares details
surrounding the time when these two first laid eyes on one another.
Nicholl was highlighting a story first reported by The Telegraph in which an anonymous source claimed
that they were just kids when their schools' hockey teams were playing against each other.
Nicholl wrote,
"Although she wasn't especially interested in boys, the arrival of one particular young man had
caught her attention. Nearby Ludgrove Prep school would often play matches against St. Andrew's
Prep, and there was much excitement when Prince William, a left back on Ludgrove's Colts team,
came to St. Andrew's to play a hockey match when he was nine years old. William,
like Kate, loved sports and was one of the best hockey and rugby players in his year.
Of course, the arrival of the prince generated a flurry of excitement."
But the two didn't speak to each other until much later.
While at St. Andrews University, both studied art history,
and they also lived in the same residence hall and had some of the same classes.
Middleton once shared her account about first seeing her future husband while in college,
saying,
"It did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other.
But we did become very close friends from quite early on. I actually went bright
red when I met [him] and scuttled off, feeling very shy about meeting [him]."
William was apparently a little nervous too, as detailed by royal memoirist Tom
Quinn in his explanation of how the Duke of Cambridge approached Middleton. Quinn said,
"One of the funny stories is he was so desperate to meet her that,
as he walked towards her, he apparently tripped and said,
'Oh that's a terrible start, you're going to think I'm a complete clot.'"
As time went on, William then apparently tried to woo her with his cooking skills. Kate once said,
"In our university days, he used to cook all sorts of meals.
I think that's when he was trying to impress me."
While Prince William and Kate Middleton's life can look like a real-life fairytale,
it’s had its ups and downs, just like every other relationship.
The two met as adults in 2001, and they were dating some time before it was confirmed by
the media and the public. In 2004, though, they broke up, followed by another split in 2007.
Since then, both of these royals have spoken out on the topic. Middleton said,
"At the time, I wasn't very happy about it, but it actually made me a stronger person.
You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized.
I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger."
“I-I really, I really valued that time for me, as well, although I didn't think it at the time."
When talking with ITV News, Prince William said,
"It was very much trying to find our own way, and we were growing up,
so it was just a bit of space, and it worked out for the better."
Plus, a source said that Middleton reportedly was in touch with William during that time,
as if they knew they would eventually find their way back to one another.
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