Before their romance blossomed at the University of St Andrews, Princess Kate developed a clever tactic to help Prince William out of any ‘uncomfortable’ situations involving other girls. William and Kate met during their first year when they were both living at St Salvator’s Halls of Residence, going on to live together in a shared house with other pals in their second year.
However, when William became a university student, he found himself quite the centre of attention when it came to advances from young women. This allegedly made William quite nervous as he was “too polite” and didn’t know how to reject their wishes, so Kate came up with an idea. Speaking to royal expert Katie Nicholl for her book ‘Kate: The Future Queen’, the pair’s mutual friend Laura Warshauer said: “Will was getting really hit on by this girl at a party and it was getting quite uncomfortable because he couldn’t shake her off.
“He was being really polite, but this girl just didn’t get the hint. All of a sudden Kate came up behind him and put her arms around him. He said ‘Oh, sorry, but I’ve got a girlfriend’, and he and Kate went off giggling.”
According to Laura, William mouthed “thanks so much” to Kate after she came to his rescue.
She said: “Kate was the only girl in the room who could have done that. And that was just a month after we started university.”
Prior to becoming the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and later, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the pair had built a strong foundation as friends while they were students at St Andrews University in the early 2000s.
The couple were both studying Art History, before William switched to study Geography. Later speaking of their relationship in their engagement interview, William said it “blossomed” during their second year at St Andrew’s.
In their third and fourth years, however, Prince William and Kate made a home together in a private house situated off-campus that belonged to one of William’s distant cousins.
Later, the couple became engaged in 2010, with royal fans overjoyed at the happy news. William got down on one knee during a romantic getaway to Kenya. The royal popped the question with his late mother, Princess Diana’s iconic engagement ring- a 12-carat oval sapphire surrounded by a white gold halo featuring 14 solitaire diamonds.
William and Kate’s wedding took place on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey in central London.