All eyes
have been on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry thanks to their ground-breaking
interview with Oprah Winfrey and that has allowed Kate Middleton and Prince
William to hide a rather big scandal about their marriage.
The rumours
of trouble brewing inside the marriage of The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge has
been going on for a year now but a recent photograph of Kate Middleton finally
gave us nosy fans, the answers we needed.
Not An Easy
Start
We all
remember the couple’s 2011 wedding, what a spectacular royal affair it was;
millions of people worldwide tuned in to watch Kate Middleton walk down the
aisle in what now is considered one of the best bridal dresses of all time.
But before
they had their fairy tale kiss on the balcony, life for the couple was anything
but rosy. The early days of their relationship was marked with conflict, with
many rumours circulating even then about Prince William’s devotion to his
girlfriend.
Not His
First Choice
The couple
met at St.Andrews but it was no love at first sight. In fact, another woman had
the princes attention for a large portion of his college life. It was Carley
Massy-Birch, creative writing, and an English language student
Kate and
William were only cordial during their first year at college and while Kate had
been crowned the prettiest girl in her dorm, Carley had the honour of winning
the “finest first-year bottom” competition at St. Andrews. Yes, this seems to
be a thing.
Hot And Cold
The minute they
met, William had fallen head over heels for her and it was a well-known fact
around campus, although at the time the tabloids didn’t. But things soon cooled
off between the pair when Carley found out that William still wasn’t over his
ex!
Arabella
Musgrave was a childhood friend of William and had high social standing. The
two had dated before the prince left for university with Arabella breaking
things off because she didn’t want to deal with the distance.
The Big
Moment
The
oft-repeated story of how William finally noticed Kate goes something like, she
was modelling for a show, wearing a sheer dress down the catwalk and that is
when Prince William finally saw Kate as more than just friends.
But of
course, it is only now we know that William was actually right dab in the
middle of many complicated romantic emotions when he finally saw Kate as
girlfriend material. It is reported that he even said “Wow, Kate Is Hot”
The
Confusing Start
While most
of you have heard about this moment, did you know what happened afterwards?
Well, William tracked Kate down and they went to an after party together, where
the couple sat together alone and chatted for hours.
Whatever Kate said that night was
music to William’s ears and he even leaned in for a kiss but Kate pulled away!
Turns out, Kate actually was dating another student at the time Rupert Finch.
Making It
Official
Clearly, the
attraction between Kate and William was far deeper than whatever she had with
Ruper and things didn’t last long between the two. Soon after, William and she
made things official and moved into new accommodation, together.
They named
their apartment 13a Hope Street and unlike most of his other romantic exploits,
Prince William tried his best to keep their relationship as secretive as
possible. The couple even used to leave the house at separate times for date
nights!
Hiding It From The Public
While the
seeds of William and Kate’s love were well and truly sown, the prince still had
no plans of announcing his interest to the world. When speaking to the Press
Association to mark his 21st birthday, he had something rather surprisingly to
say.
“I don’t
have a steady girlfriend. If I fancy a girl and I really like her and she
fancies me back, which is rare, I ask her out.”
“But, at the same time, I don’t want to put [prospective girlfriends] in
an awkward situation because a lot of people don’t quite understand what comes
with knowing me,” William continued. “There’s been a lot of speculation about
every single girl I’m with and it does quite irritate me after a while, more so
because it’s a complete pain for the girls.”
Here Comes
Jecca
Before
William and Kate could move their relationship further, Jecca Craig walked into
the Prince’s life and apparently, things got serious fast! The media reported
that William and Jecca had performed an engagement ceremony!
And despite
the royal family very rarely commenting, it was only when they stepped in and
confirmed that no such event happened did the rumours of Jecca being William’s
true love finally died down.
Dedicated To
Someone Else
But in
private, despite living together, it did seem like Kate and William’s romance
was fizzling down. During Prince William’s 21s birthday party, many guests
noticed that Jecca was seated next to William while Kate wasn’t even at the
main table.
Furthermore,
the celebration’s theme was “Out of Africa”. The duo had met in Kenya and that
is also the place where their reported pretend engagement took place! But even
then, amongst friends, it was still known that Kate and William were together.
Public
Announcement
While we
aren’t sure what happened since the birthday party, between Jecca and Prince
Williams, he did finally make up his mind about Kate. News of the relationship
finally made headlines in April 2004.
The couple
were spotted on a skiing trip, The Sun ran the headline “Finally… Wills gets a
girl.” After the many ups and downs of their short relationship, again Kate and
William found their groove back and were steady for a while… until…
Distracted,
Again!
Well, the
bliss didn’t last long and William went around flirting with other women
sometimes right in front of Kate and now with their relationship public, each
rumour and gossip was making headlines.
And Kate
wasn’t impressed. She was fuming when William went on holiday with Anna Sloan,
an affluent American. He also was pictured many times with heiress Isabella
Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe to consider.
Boundaries
Kate still
loved William and things got so bad that she even banned him from seeing
Isabella again. This was definitely not something he appreciated and the pair
decided to separate,
Somehow,
they managed to keep this news away from the hungry tabloids at the time. Reportedly, William went to go see Jecca in
Kenya the minute he got separated from Kate, making it seem obvious that he always
had her on his mind
And Back
Together Again.
We aren’t
kidding when he said the couple runs hot and cold! A year after making their
relationship publically official, Kate took the next big step with William and
went on holiday with Prince Harry and Prince Charles.
This seemed
like a significant step towards a serious relationship, one which many other
girlfriends had never been given. The holiday seemed to have been a success and
soon Kate was seen in many royal gathering.
Graduation
The pair
both graduated from St. Andrews University and the couple looked happier than
ever. Tabloids constantly speculated when exactly will Prince William pop the
big question and officially add Kate into the family.
This wasn’t
happening anytime soon since, rather than get down on one knee William decided
to join the British Army. This news made the tabloids even wilder, with many
again suggesting that William was unfaithful to Kate.
The Final
Straw
It didn’t
help matters that every week, Prince William was spotted hanging out with one
girl after another. At one point, the prince was spotted dancing at a nightclub
with Tess Shepherd. Another night saw him taking out a new girl for drinks.
By 2007, no
one really believed that William would ever marry Kate. The media had even
given her a terrible nickname, Waitey Katie. Royal insiders revealed that Kate
was so sick of the headlines that she gave William an ultimatum, he either
marry her or leaves her.
The Split
And William
had an answer. By Easter of that year, Kate and William had split up. Kate even
wore a daring party dress and hit the party circuit in full force. She was
determined to show everybody that she was just fine without William.
In April
2007 an unnamed “friend of the prince” confirmed what everyone knew already.
They told The Evening Standard that marriage was “never on the cards.” They
added, “Kate did everything she could to make him stay – playing a waiting game
one minute and then hard-to-get the next.”
The Harsh
Truth
The royal
insider also said, notably, “Just the other week, she said she intended to be
photographed at as many places as she could without William to punish him for
all those pictures that appeared of him clubbing with other girls”
They
continued “But William’s heart just wasn’t in it anymore. As she was planning
the wedding, he was working out how to extricate himself.” Another source told
the Evening Standard, “He has always had a roving eye, far more so than Harry,
who is meant to be the family playboy
Working
Things Out
Of course,
as we all know, Kate and William ended up getting back together and finally in
2010 revealed the news, which everyone was waiting to hear for years. They were
engaged and getting married!
The first
years of William and Kate’s marriage all but seemed to focus on how Kate was
dealing with becoming a royal wife and the days of Prince William’s lurking eye
were soon forgotten.
Wondering
Eye
But after
years of marital bliss, in March 2017 the prince was videotaped in a comprising
position at a nightclub. It looked like his old habits were resurfacing. It all
happened when was away on a skiing holiday with friends in Switzerland
The video
shows the prince observing the dancing playfully and Vanity Fair reported that
Kate was “less than pleased” to hear about it. And then in 2019, the big –
unconfirmed- news broke.
Cheating
Rumours
William had
allegedly cheated on Kate while she was pregnant with Louis. And the other
woman was none other than, their neighbour Rose Hanbury, Marchioness of
Cholmondeley. The story even suggested that Kate and Rose had a falling out,
due to this reason.
Richard Eden
of the Daily Mail claimed that Kate “seems to see Rose as a rival.” The Sun
quoted a source who said, “Things are tense between them… Over the years, Rose
and Kate’s lives have been entwined in many ways.”
Damaging
Headlines
the
magazine In Touch published details about infidelity claim, in which Kate had
confronted William upon hearing rumours, which he “just laughed it off saying
there was nothing to it.”
ournalist
Giles Coren of The Times also tweeted out a post “confirming” that William had
indeed cheated on Kate but it was later removed. Many believe that this was
done due to pressure from the palace and some publications were even handed out
legal warnings.
Royal
Response
One of the
letters issued to Cosmopolitan magazine by the Royals stated, “In addition to
being false and highly damaging, the publication of false speculation in
respect of our clients’ private life also constitutes a breach of his privacy
according to Article 8 of the European Convention to Human Rights.
Us Weekly
published an article, in which one of the insiders said, “Kate finds the
rumours hurtful, obviously, and hates the thought that one day her children
will be able to read about them online.”
Kate’s Reaction
The insider
also claimed that hearing the rumours “forced her and William to sit back and
examine their relationship, which they realized they should have been doing
more often.” A second source who spoke to Us was rather harsh.
t revealed
that the couple had argued that the headlines “didn’t go down well with Kate.”
but added that the couple were “determined to pull through it and are doing a
great job at getting their marriage back on track again.”
Getting Stronger
Since then,
Kate and Rose have been seen in a room together and have acted cordially with
each other. No new reports of Prince William’s infidelity have surfaced with
many believing that this was just a small bump in an otherwise, strong
marriage. One inside
said “It’s not unusual to have a few hiccups in a marriage, especially after
eight years, and Kate and William are no different. They’re still going strong.
Regardless of their ups and downs, they love each other dearly and their kids
are the most important thing in their lives.”
