Kate Middleton and Prince William’s relationship goes a long way back. The two first met when studying at university and, as is the case with many others, their union hasn’t been a perfect Cinderella story.
Kate and William have had their fair share of troubles. Ultimately, though, the couple made it through – today, they are one big, happy family.
Kate Middleton has always looked amazing, but the secret behind her seemingly eternal agelessness has never been revealed. That said, one expert has now claimed how the 40-year-old manages to retain her youthful looks. When looking at photos of the Princess of Wales without makeup on, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that she’s simply a natural beauty.
When Kate Middleton was growing up, she could never have even imagined that she would become a real-life princess – and future Queen. She was born on January 9, 1982, in Reading, England, to parents Michael and Carole Middleton.
Kate Middleton – early life & education
Her father, Michael, worked as a flight dispatcher; her mother, Carole, was a flight attendant. However, when Kate was very young, her parents started a new business together, one which turned out to be a success story.
The couple founded the company Party Pieces, selling party supplies and decorations via mail. It quickly grew into a huge company – and made the Middleton family very rich. As a result, it wasn’t strange that Kate Middleton attended costly and prestigious boarding schools from an early age. These include Downe House, Marlborough College, and St. Andrew’s Prep School.
She reportedly spent nine years at St Andrew’s – in 2012, Kate returned to the school, saying it gave her some of her “happiest years.”
“In fact, I enjoyed it so much that when I had to leave, I told my mother that I was going to come back to be a teacher. While that didn’t quite happen, I was thrilled to have been asked back today on St. Andrew’s Day,” Middleton said during her visit.
”It was while I was here at school that I realised my love of sport. Sport has been a huge part of my life, and I feel incredibly grateful for the opportunities I had to get outside and play in such wonderful open spaces – though sadly there was nothing quite as glamorous as this in my time!”
Indeed, the Princess has very fond memories of her childhood.
Meeting Prince William
One is of her grandmother, which helped Kate later on in life when she and Prince William had their own children.
“I had an amazing Granny who devoted a lot of time to us, playing with us, doing arts and crafts and going to the greenhouse to do gardening, and cooking with us,” Kate said on the podcast Happy Mum.
“I try and incorporate a lot of the experiences that she gave us at the time into the experiences that I give my children now.”
William and Kate both studied at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The couple met through friends, though Kate was allegedly timid at first.
“I actually went bright red when I met you and scuttled off feeling very shy about meeting you,” she recalled.
“William wasn’t there for quite a bit of the time initially, he wasn’t there from Fresher’s Week, so it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other.”
William, meanwhile, didn’t recall their first meeting, saying he had to “wrack his brains” to remember it.
In the beginning, William and Kate were nothing more than really close friends. However, as the years at university went by, things became more serious.
Kate Middleton, Prince William
The two eventually started dating. Reportedly, it all began at a student fashion show. As reported by Insider, Kate caught William’s eye with an outfit that cost only $40.
First public appearance in 2006
According to the documentary, The Day Will and Kate Got Married, which aired in April of 2021, that specific outfit changed everything.
“A switch had been flicked, he suddenly saw her in a different light, and I really believe that was the turning point in their relationship,” Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, said in the documentary.
They fell deeply in love. Though the outfit Kate wore was very special to him, William explained that everything changed as soon as they started hanging out.
“We were friends for over a year first and it just sort of blossomed from then on,” William told The Telegraph. “We just spent more time with each other and had a good giggle, and realized we shared the same interests.”
William and Kate spent a lot of time together getting to know each other at university. In 2005 both of them graduated: Kate Middleton earned a degree in art history; William in geography.
By that point, things had started to get serious. William and Kate had publicly announced that they were dating, and by the time they graduated they had already lived together for quite some time.
A year later, in 2006, Kate made her first public appearance with the Royal Family.
Later that year, with her family, she attended the Sovereign’s Parade at the Royal Military Academy, in which William appeared.
Now, being a member of the Royal Family must be a wonderful thing. With all the money, nice houses, and fancy dinners, life seems easy. However – as we have seen in history, for example, with Princess Diana – it can also be very tough. Especially considering the British tabloid press, which can be harsh once they find someone to stalk.
For Kate Middleton, this was also the case, as she became a subject of intense media fascination all over the country. After all, she was dating a future King. At the same time, this wasn’t an excuse for the media to dig deep into her private life.
In 2007, it was reported that William and Kate had split. Some reports even painted a picture of it as being pretty inappropriate.
According to the book William and Kate: A Royal Love Story by Christopher Andersen, William called Kate in 2007 when she was at work. He wanted to break up with her.
“I can’t… It just isn’t going to work. It isn’t fair to you,” William reportedly said.
“He broke up with Kate because he’s met someone else who’s turned his head,” an anonymous source told The Observer at the time. “She’s from a decent background but is very naughty and he finds her much more exciting.”
“I don’t think it’s really over,” a friend of Kate’s told People. “I don’t think this is the last you’ll see of the two of them.”
“We were both finding ourselves”
The love story would turn good again one just a year later when, in 2008, Kate Middleton and William reunited.
Years later, the couple spoke about their breakup, saying it was a good thing.
“We were both very young … and we were both finding ourselves,” William said in an interview with the Telegraph in 2010.
“It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up.”
“I, at the time, wasn’t very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person,” Kate added. “You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized. I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you’re younger.”
It seemed like Kate and William thought the breakup was a good idea in reflection. However, a newly-resurfaced report by the Mail in 2007 appears to shed new light on what really happened.
Royal correspondents Laura Collins, Katie Nicholl, and Ian Gallagher claimed Prince William decided to split from Kate because he felt the “fun” had disappeared from the relationship.
Furthermore, Kate was said to have been left “desperately upset,” as she had already pictured them getting married in the future.
Kate was left upset by William’s behavior
Shortly after the breakup, William was spotted roaming around London nightclubs and seen with several other girls.
This was, naturally, something Kate didn’t find pleasant at all, and according to the report, “harsh words” were exchanged as Kate thought she had been “humiliated” by William’s behavior.
She also felt that he was “cheapening her image.”
“It was the first such warning she had dished out over the course of their four-and-a-half-year-relationship,” the report reads, as quoted by Express.
“Kate had had enough, and words were exchanged. Kate told William that he was making her look bad,” one of her friends explained. “She has coped for years with girls flinging themselves at her boyfriend, and for a while, she found it humorous and even flattering.”
Following their breakup, things got better between Kate and William. They became a loving couple, and one very much appreciated by the public. And in 2010, they decided to take the next step.
“We had a little private time away together with some friends, and I just decided that it was the right time, really. We had been talking about marriage for a while, so it wasn’t a massively big surprise. I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya, and I proposed,” William recalled.