Wills & Kate: A fairy-tale romance
The story of an ordinary girl who won the heart of a Prince enchanted millions around the globe…
It was 18 years ago that the public caught their first glimpse of the girl who would become one of the most famous women in the world.
On the ski slopes at Klosters in Switzerland in 2004, photographers spotted Prince William with his arm around a glamorous brunette. ‘Finally, Wills gets a girl’, screamed one of the headlines and for Kate Middleton, then just 22, life would never be the same again.
The eldest of three children, she was brought up in Berkshire by her parents Michael and Carole – both of whom worked for British Airways before making a fortune with their business, Party Pieces. The three Middleton children – Kate, her sister Pippa and brother James – were all privately educated at Marlborough College, where Kate was known as ‘beautiful Kate’.
Academically gifted and sporty, she flourished – and made many friends among the aristocratic crowd, many of whom went on, as she did, to study at St Andrews, the oldest university in Scotland.
Also enrolling as an undergraduate in 2001 was one William Wales, who was also headed for St Salvator’s Hall – nicknamed Sally’s – and like Kate, would study History of Art.
William definitely noticed Kate, who was voted the prettiest girl at Sally’s, and first the pair were good friends – even sharing a house, along with other pals, in the second year.
But it’s rumoured William saw his platonic pal with new eyes when in 2002 she glided up the catwalk at a charity fashion show wearing a seethrough dress over skimpy underwear.
‘Kate’s hot,’ he is said to have whispered to his old school friend Fergus Boyd.
(The dress later sold at auction for £78,000.)
Soon the couple were an established item, and lived alone together in their final year at the university. When contemporaries remarked that she was ‘so lucky to be going out with William’ she is said to have quipped back ‘he’s lucky to be going out with me’.
After graduation, William enrolled at Sandhurst and Kate moved to London where
she worked at Jigsaw, before leaving to work for her parent’s firm. In December 2006, in a nod to the seriousness of the relationship, the Middleton family attended the Sovereign’s Parade at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, in which Prince William appeared.
However, there was no sign of the expected engagement which led to the rather snide nickname ‘Waity Katy’. (She was also rumoured to be called ‘Doors To Manual’, a reference to her mum Carole’s former career as a flight attendant.)
There was also a bump in the road in 2007 when it was announced that the couple had separated. Kate, however, did not let the spilt stop her from enjoying nights on the town – on the arm of a range of eligible young men, in thigh-skimming mini dresses. Her outings perhaps did not go unnoticed by William, and soon they were back together and looking happier than ever.
In October 2010 on a safari holiday in Kenya, William finally popped the question – offering Kate the iconic sapphire and diamond ring that Charles had given to Diana. He’d been carrying it around in his rucksack for weeks, he admitted .
‘It was very romantic,’ Kate was later to say.
A delighted Charles declared himself ‘thrilled’, saying, ‘They’ve been practising for long enough.’
A beaming Kate charmed the public in the interview they recorded for their engagement, admitting she had ‘not been very happy’ about the fact that William had ended their relationship.
She also put paid to the rumour that she had once had a poster of William on her bedroom wall. ‘He wishes!’ she joked, confirming that in fact her pin-up was ‘The Levi’s guy’.
On a bright Spring day in April 2011, millions watched as they wed at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony full of pomp and pageantry. ‘It was only supposed to be a small family affair,’ William joked. William was handsome in his Irish Guards uniform, with Kate a vision in white lace, designed by Sarah Burton for fashion house Alexander McQueen.
‘She’s here and she looks beautifiul,’ whispered best man Harry as she glided up the aisle. And indeed she did. Beaming with pride and happiness, William drove his new wife up the Mall in an Aston Martin – speeding into their glorious future…
When she married William, as well as becoming the future queen, Kate Middleton took on a very important job – providing the ‘heir and the spare’ for the royal family. But not only has she produced three gorgeous children – George, 8, Charlotte, 6 and Louis, 4, she is making a brilliant job of being a hands-on, and very modern royal mum.
On 23 July 2013, Kate stepped out of the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital, London holding a precious bundle –Prince George. The baby, draped in a blanket, slept peacefully in his mother’s arms, as she said to the waiting hordes: ‘It’s very emotional. Such a special time. I think any parent probably knows what this feeling feels like,’
The world watched as a proud William strapped the baby into the brand new car seat, and drove his young family home. For the Cambridges – as for any young couple – parenthood was a daunting prospect, and of course, Kate had the eyes of the world upon her.
She was later to admit that the ‘Lindo photocall’ was ‘slightly terrifying’. And she was equally honest about the challenges of motherhood. ‘It’s so hard. You get a lot of support with the baby as a mother particularly in the early days, but after the age of one, it falls away. After that there isn’t a huge amount – lots of books to read.’ She later said. ‘Everybody experiences the same struggle. Even for me, who has more support at home than most mothers do. Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer, overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother.’ Years later, when she’d added Charlotte and Louis to her brood, she admitted that, as a working mum, she experiences ‘Mum guilt’. ‘There’s such a pull, but I am such a hands-on mum, and whatever you’re doing you want to make sure you’re doing the uttermost best job you can for your children.’
Giving listeners an insight into her daily life, Kate revealed: ‘And you know, even this morning, coming here, George and Charlotte were like, “Mummy how could you possibly not be dropping us off at school this morning?”
‘But no, it’s a constant challenge, you hear it time and time again from mums. Even mums who aren’t necessarily working, aren’t pulled in the directions of having to juggle work life and family life –
there’s always something.’
The Duchess added: ‘And always sort of questioning your own decisions, and your own judgments, and things like that, and I think that starts from the moment you have a baby.’
As her brood has grown, Kate’s interest in the importance of early years parenting has grown too, and she revealed that, while her approach is modern, she draws on examples from the past.
On a recent podcast appearance she said . ‘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 – and 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.’
She also spoke fondly of her parents. ‘I had a very happy childhood. It was great fun and I’m very lucky I come from a very strong family. My parents were hugely dedicated. I really appreciate now as a parent how much they sacrificed for us.’
Of course, for royals, it was previously the tradition to keep children at arm’s length. Kate, however, approaches motherhood like Princess Diana in terms of not being afraid to hug her children, in public. And she makes it look fun – when cheeky Charlotte stuck her tongue out at photographers, Kate laughed along with her daughter.
At home, she is hands-on – even in the kitchen.
In December 2019, Kate revealed that she loves baking cakes for the children’s birthdays. ‘It’s become a bit of a tradition that I stay up ‘til midnight with ridiculous amounts of cake mix and I make far too much. But I love it,’ she said.
Sounds like George, Charlotte and Louis are lucky to have a mum like her.