Kate Middleton and Prince William have been through a lot together, and while they’ve retreated from the public eye recently due to Middleton’s cancer diagnosis, they’ve always been at the center of most royal fans’ attention.
They’ve been married for 13 years and a couple for much longer, but what do we know about the early days of their relationship, after they met, but before they became such a recognizable power couple?
Prince William and Kate Middleton met in college
The two met in their first year at the University of St Andrews when they were both around 19-20. At the time Kate was already in a relationship with a fourth year student, while William had just broken things off with his last girlfriend before leaving for St Andrews.
For a while they were just friends, according to an article from E Online the pair started out mostly platonic, bonding over shared hobbies. Kate got on well with William’s friend group, so when it came time to find accommodation for their second year at St Andrews, it made sense for them to move in together.
13A Hope Street might be a place of significance to you if you’re a royal superfan. For one whole year William and Kate lived together at the property, along with friends Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale. An article published by Town and Country found that the house is actually still available to rent with the going rate being £3,875 a month, daylight robbery if you ask me.
What was Kate and William’s time like at Hope Street?
As we’ve already covered, they were just friends upon moving into the property, although it didn’t take long for it to bloom into a full-on relationship. During an interview talking about their engagement, William spoke about how things developed between him and Kate, explaining “We moved in together as friends because we were living together, we lived with a couple of others as well, it just sort of blossomed from there really.”
During the interview, Kate even mentioned how William would cook for her in the kitchen in an attempt to impress her; obviously it worked, because cooking skills are one of the sexiest traits a man can have. That being said, William admits that he wasn’t very good, “all that would happen was: I’d burn something, something would overspill, something would catch on fire.” Well, at least he’s honest.
So not only did William and Kate live together at college, but their love blossomed into what it is today because of the fact they moved in together. Without 13A Hope Street, maybe Kate and William would never have kindled those flames of romance.