Prior to anything more serious happening, the Prince and Princess of Wales were simply close friends when they initially met in university.
William and Kate became friends while living in the same dorm at Scotland’s St. Andrews University, St. Salvador’s Hall. Although Kate was involved with someone else at the outset of their romance, it developed into something more.
It wasn’t really love at first sight for the two — or for William at least— unlike in the movies. Unlike William, who confessed he couldn’t recall the specifics of their first encounter, Kate recalled it vividly and was left red-faced. The happy pair discussed their first impressions of one another in a 2010 engagement interview.
For Kate, who could recollect the event without any delay, the memory appeared far more vivid. William seemed to be at a loss and ultimately decided to “wrack his brains.” As Kate mentioned in the interview, she flushed red when she met you and quickly left, feeling quite shy.
It took some time for us to get to know each other, she said, because William wasn’t there for a significant portion of the time initially—he wasn’t there from Fresher’s Week onwards. However, we did have a strong friendship from the start.
After William spent £200 on a front-row ticket to Kate’s charity fashion show in 2002, their romance took a turn for the worst. As a reaction to her now-iconic see-through clothing, he allegedly replied, “Wow, Kate’s hot.” By Christmas 2003, Kate and William had become something of a “item,” and Kate would even attend William’s birthday party.
While the palace and the media reached an arrangement to let the prince study in peace, William found school to be difficult and uninteresting; he nearly dropped out after Christmas 2001 before deciding to transfer majors from art history to geography.
They had a tough stretch after William entered the military after they graduated, and they ultimately broke up in 2007. They broke up, but quickly got back together, became engaged in 2010, and tied the knot in 2011. When Prince George was born in July 2013, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis were later additions to the royal family.
