Meg Bellamy and Ed McVey in ‘The Crown’ Season 6. ; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge walk hand in hand from Buckingham Palace the day after their wedding on April 30, 2011 in London, England.Photo:Justin Downing/Netflix ; John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty
Justin Downing/Netflix ; John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty
At long last,The Crownhas introduced the modern-day royal romance ofKate MiddletonandPrince William.
The hit Netflix series has chronicled decades of the British royal family’s triumphs and hardships since its debut in 2016, from the start ofQueen Elizabeth’s reign to the unraveling ofKing CharlesandPrincess Diana’s marriage. Now in its sixth and final season,The Crownis tackling the early days of Prince William and Kate’s relationship as students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
In part 2 of the final season — which dropped on Dec. 14 — Ed McVey andMeg Bellamyrecreate William and Kate’s time as college students. But how accurate isThe Crown’s depiction of their legendary love story? While it is true that the Prince and Princess of Wales met during their freshman year, the series took a few creative liberties to tell the tale.
From their first introduction in Scotland to Kate’s catwalk moment that caught Prince William’s eye, here’s the true story of how Prince William and Kate Middleton met.
Did Prince William and Kate Middleton actually meet as teenagers?
Meg Bellamy and Ed McVey in ‘The Crown’ Season 6 ; Kate Middleton and Prince William on the day of their graduation ceremony at St Andrew’s University on June 23, 2005.Justin Downing/Netflix ; Middleton Family/Clarence House/Getty
Justin Downing/Netflix ; Middleton Family/Clarence House/Getty
Episode 7 ofThe Crown, titled “Alma Mater,” begins with a young Kate and her mother, Carole Middleton, running into Princess Diana and Prince William while Christmas shopping, but that introduction is entirely fictional.
In real life, Prince William and Kate met as freshmen at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2001. During theirengagement interview in 2010, Kate touched on the origin of their first meeting, telling William, “I think you said I actually went bright red when I met you and sort of scuttled off. [I was] feeling very shy about meeting you.”
However, according to Katie Nicholl, royal biographer and author ofKate: The Future Queen, the future Prince and Princess of Wales might have initially crossed paths during their secondary schooling days in the ’90s. “I was speaking to some of her friends at Marlborough [College], which is where she went before St. Andrews, and they said, ‘Uh-uh, she didn’t meet him at St. Andrews, she met him before she got there, while she was at school during her sixth form through some of her friends,' " Nicholl told Katie Couric on a 2013 episode ofKatie.
And whileThe Crownalso shows a teenage Kate hanging posters of Prince William in her childhood bedroom, the Princess of Wales has denied having pictures of her future husband hanging on her walls. “He wishes! No, I had the Levi’s guy on my wall,” Kate admitted during her engagement interview. “Not a picture of William. Sorry.”
Did Prince William and Kate Middleton take gap years before attending St. Andrews?
Prince William During His Raleigh International Expedition, In Southern Chile Varnishing The Outside Of The Local Radio Station In Tortel.Tim Graham Picture Library/Getty
Tim Graham Picture Library/Getty
Yes, after William and Kate graduated from Eton College and Marlborough, respectively, in 2000, they took a gap year before enrolling at St. Andrews in the fall of 2001.
During this time, Prince William trained with the Welsh Guard in Belize, worked on construction projects in Chile with Raleigh International and learned about wildlife and game conservation in Africa. Kate also did charity work in Chile with the same organization (though they were in the country at different times), as well as studied at the British Institute in Florence and rowed crew with Round the World Challenge in the Solent strait.
InThe Crown, viewers see William and Kate bond over their shared gap year experiences while students at St. Andrews. However, the series also suggests that Kate never intended to take a gap year — or attend St. Andrews at all. According toThe Crown, Kate initially planned to enroll at the University of Edinburgh, also in Scotland, immediately after graduating from Malborough but changed her plans at the last minute at her mother’s insistence.
While the Princess of Wales has never commented on her decision to attend St. Andrews, a career adviser at Marlborough, Jasper Selwyn, has claimed that Kate was accepted to Edinburgh, telling theDaily Mailin 2013, “Kate’s firm choice was Edinburgh, and that was confirmed.”
Did Prince William and Kate Middleton date other people before getting together?
Meg Bellamy in ‘The Crown’ Season 6.Netflix
Netflix
Even though Kate and Prince William became “very close friends” during their first year at St. Andrews, they dated other people before their friendship turned romantic.
According to Nicholl, Prince William enjoyed a brief relationship with fellow student Carley Massey-Birch during his first semester. “Carley was also a country girl, which appealed to William — he had been brought up in the Gloucestershire countryside,” Nicholl wrote in her 2011 bookThe Making of a Royal Romance. Although Massey-Birch wasn’t portrayed in the Netflix drama, the show featured a relationship between Prince William and a girl named Lola Airdale-Cavendish-Kincaid.
Did Kate Middleton and Prince William’s friendship turn romantic after she wore a sheer dress at a fashion show?
Justin Downing; Malcolm Clarke/Daily Mail/Shutterstock
A 20-year-old Kate really did walk the runway in asheer black dresswhile studying at St. Andrews — and Prince William really did sit in the front row!
“Everyone says that the fashion show was when the romance started, so a small part of me will always be part of royal history,” Todd told PEOPLE in 2020. “It’s madness!”
The slip, which only cost $50 to make, sold at auction for $125,000 in 2011.
The Crownrecreated Kate’s famous catwalk scene during its final season, where Bellamy strutted the runway wearing a nearly identical version of Kate’s sheer number.
source: people.com
