Yahoo News The Crown: Why did Kate Middleton decide to swap to Prince William's university?
The Crown is back with its final ever drop on Netflix, as the second part of Season Six focuses on the next generation of royals.
Following on from the tragic death of Princess Diana, the series observes how a young Prince William fairs as he navigates his student years, including the famous moment he locks eyes on a young Kate Middleton for the first time.
However, The Crown is no stranger to playing a little fast and loose with the truth, with Peter Morgan and the other writers on the hit series sometimes embellishing scenes to make for a more compelling watch.
And for those of you not so well-versed in your royal history, you may be surprised to hear that Kate and Wills met long before their paths crossed at St Andrews.
We’ve got the lowdown on the royal romance that was really decades in the making.
When did Kate Middleton meet Prince William?
While Kate may not necessarily be from aristocracy, her family were not short of cash, with mother Carole Middleton becoming a self-made millionaire with her own mail-order supply company, Party Pieces. Their wealth saw their children attend some of the most exclusive schools in the country.
The prep school that Kate attended was St Andrew’s (not to be confused with the university of the same name), and it’s thought when she was just nine years old, she met a very young Prince William.
In her book Kate: The Future Queen, royal biographer Katie Nicholl explains that William, who attended the nearby Ludgrove Prep would swing by for matches.
“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,” Nicholl writes. “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. It was the first time Kate had set her eyes on the young prince but certainly not the last.”
Nicholl added that Kate and Wills rubbed shoulders when she was studying at Marlborough College, with some of her friendship group being friends with both him and Prince Harry when they were at Eton.
“[Kate’s friends] said, ‘Uh-uh, she didn’t meet him at St. Andrews, she met him before she got there, while she was at school during her sixth form through some of her friends,’ Nicholl said in an interview. “They knew Prince William and Prince Harry, so there wasn’t any meeting.’ And that, for me, it changed everything.”
Did Kate Middleton swap to St Andrews University because of Prince William?
It certainly looks that way. According to Jasper Selwyn, the then-careers advisor at Marlborough School, Kate was all set to study at the University of Edinburgh alongside two of her best friends. Having achieved 2A’s and a B, Kate even reportedly had accommodation for the prestigious Scottish university all sorted out.
However, Kate pulled out last minute and decided to apply for the quieter St Andrews University, after there was an announcement confirming Prince William was to start studying there in 2001. Kate then went on a gap year, starting at St Andrews at the same time as her future husband. It was a risky move – applications for St Andrews University went up around 40% after it was confirmed one of the royals was heading there.
While we don’t know for certain what was behind Kate’s change of heart, Tina Brown’s candid book The Palace Papers suggest that Kate’s mother may have had a hand in it. If so, it's a level of strategic manoeuvring that would make Kris Jenner proud.
“Carole has considerable strategic flair,” Brown writes. “Whenever Kate was bloodied in the ring, she retreated to Bucklebury, where Coach Carole would dress her wounds, advise her on moves, and urge her to keep her eyes on the prize. Carole’s fingerprints are all over Kate’s first move on the royal chessboard.”
It's something Matthew Bell, royal correspondent at The Spectator, has also mused. He wrote in 2005: “Some insiders wonder whether her university meeting with Prince William can really be ascribed to coincidence. Although at the time of making her application to universities it was unknown where the Prince was intending to go, it has been suggested that her mother persuaded Kate to reject her first choice on hearing the news and take up her offer at St. Andrews instead.”
So when did Kate and Wills start dating at university?
It wasn’t quite love at first sight, according to royal sources. The pair lived in the same dorm building, often crossing paths and establishing a friendship first – even moving in together with a group of friends in second year.
Speaking to the press after they got engaged in 2010, William said: “When I first met Kate, I knew there was something very special about her. I knew there was possibly something that I wanted to explore there. We ended up being friends for a while and that just sort of was a good foundation. Because I do generally believe now that being friends with one another is a massive advantage. And it just went from there.”
It's little wonder Kate caught William’s eye – her nickname at university was thought to be ‘Beautiful Kate’ due to her striking good looks.
Meanwhile, Kate remembers not quite keeping her cool when she first met Wills.
“I actually think I went bright red when I met you and sort of scuttled off, feeling very shy,” she said. “But we did become very close friends from quite early.”
At first, William reportedly asked out Carly Massy-Birch, who was the year above him at St Andrews. The pair had a brief, fleeting romance.
“We got on well, but I think we would have got on well even if nothing had been going on romantically,” Massy-Birch told Nicholl. “It was very much a university thing, just a regular university romance.”
It was thought to be after that now famous fashion show, where Kate wore that see-through dress, that was the turning point in their relationship.
Writing in her book, Nicholl said that William told a friend called Fergus that Kate “looked hot”.
“He actually told her she was a knockout that night, which caused her to blush. There was definitely chemistry between them and Kate had really made an impression on William. And at one point when William seemed to lean in to kiss her, she pulled away. She didn’t want to give off the wrong impression or make it too easy on Will.”
When did William propose to Kate?
The rest is history, with Wills getting down on one knee in November 2010.
However, their relationship wasn’t without speed bumps, with the pair briefly splitting in 2007.
Per The Palace Papers, Brown believes it was Carole who, once again, smoothed the cracks in Kate and William’s relationship.
“Recuperate on holiday with your ex’s other former girlfriends,” she wrote. “He will admire your lack of jealousy and feel paranoid about what it is you could be talking about. Revise your views on press intrusion. Get yourself photographed doing all of the above as often as possible.”
Just months later, they were back together.
It's thought that Carole was behind the proposal, with Nicholl reporting Kate’s mother asked the Prince whether marriage was on the cards.
“She sat down with William and just said to him, 'is this going to end in a marriage?' Nicholl writes. "She was close enough to do that. William gave his assurance that he was going to make an honest woman of Kate. He wasn't going to leave her on the shelf.”
The Crown is available to view on Netflix.
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