How Prince William and Princess Kate already knew one another before university

Prince William and Kate’s love story has been told over and over again. The pair met at St Andrews university and became good friends and housemates before their friendship blossomed into something more – but did you know that the pair’s paths likely crossed before attending university? 

In A Right Royal Podcast’s season finale, which is all about the Princess of Wales, hosts Emmy Griffiths and Emily Nash sat down with royal biographer Robert Jobson, who spoke about how the couple met. He explained: “We all go on about how they met at university, but actually they were aware of each other before they went to university. 

 “The way the kids from Marlborough and Eton were, girls and boys would mingle and meet. So they had known each other before. Basically, their paths have crossed.

“That’s probably why they were able to develop a friendship quicker. There are other things, William is a little bit younger than her… Thinking about the breakups, they were understandable, they were at uni! The fact that they survived this long in a university relationship just shows that they were very much in love. But that ten-year courtship was very important in preparing her for what she had to do going forward.”  

   

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During their school years, Prince William attended Eton while Kate attended Marlborough College after a brief stint at Downe House School, which she famously didn't enjoy. Robert explained: "There was a lot of snobbery there. To put it bluntly, there were a lot of people that just decided that they would pick on her. 

"She was an outsider for a while, and I think she found that very difficult." 

The royal author was full of praise for Princess Kate, saying: “She's very smart. I think there's a bit of an image about Catherine that she's this Stepford Wife and it's just the wrong image.

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“This a girl who is smart. She's steely, she's determined. She defends her position. For example, when she first went into the royal family, the idea of getting the title of the Princess of Wales, she didn't really want to do that.” 

“And with her children, she was making it very clear, to both the Queen and to the Prince of Wales, as he was, that she's not going to be rushed into doing things she doesn't necessarily want to do. That takes quite a lot of courage, I think, because you're in a very alien world… And she very much knew her position and stuck by her guns.”