Prince William and Kate Middleton Reportedly Had a Secret Date Before Their Famous Fashion Show Meeting

In the lore of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s love story, legend has it that the future king was first romantically attracted to his friend Kate after seeing her walk in a 2002 charity fashion show. Sitting in the front row, William reportedly turned to a friend after seeing Kate hit the catwalk—in a see-through tunic made of gold and black fabric with blue-ribbon trim and a black bandeau bra and bikini bottoms underneath—and said, “She’s hot!”

But according to longtime royal biographer Ingrid Seward, while Kate’s modeling experience might have cemented William’s interest in her, it wasn’t the first spark. Writing for The Daily Mail, Seward said, “What no one knew back then—but I can exclusively reveal now—is that the couple had already been on a date.”

They’d met months earlier in the fall of 2001—25 years ago—as first-year students at the University of St. Andrews. They had become friends, and both were studying art history at the time (while Kate would graduate with a degree in the subject, William later switched to geography). During the Christmas holidays in 2001, “William had driven for more than an hour to pick up Catherine from her parents’ home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, then take her for a drink at a nearby pub, the Old Boot Inn at Stanford Dingley,” Seward added. “In the snug surroundings of a country pub with dark wood furnishings and a fire going, there was a crucial shift in their fledgling relationship.”

William admitted he was bored in their art history classes, “But he felt he couldn’t quit, for fear of being branded a loser,” Seward wrote. It was on this under-the-radar date that Kate suggested he switch majors, “and together they mapped the alternatives,” according to Seward.

“Surrounded as he was by people who almost always said ‘yes,’ it was difficult for William in those days to form concrete opinions, but here was someone genuinely interested in his dilemma, coming up with a solution,” Seward continued. “She might be a good-looking young woman, but Catherine Middleton was also someone with a wise head whom he could consult on an equal footing.”

When he returned to school in January, he changed majors from art history to geography. Then, in March 2002, Kate walked in the student charity fashion show Don’t Walk, sponsored by Yves Saint Laurent. “Kate had no idea that an outfit chosen for her to wear that night on the catwalk would become one of the most famous pictures of the decade,” a commentator said later.

“But while she might have looked stunning, she already had more than a lovelorn William’s admiration—she also had his trust,” wrote Seward, who is also editor-in-chief of Majestymagazine.

By the fall of 2002, Queen Elizabeth—in quite a shocking decision—permitted William and Kate to live together as roommates, even though they were romantically involved by this time. (They also lived with two other roommates, Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale, which served as a cover for the burgeoning couple.) It was a key factor in how their relationship managed to not go public until April 2004, over two years after it began. 

William was committed to doing it differently than his parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana did. When they married on July 29, 1981, the two had only spent time together on roughly 13 occasions. “Catherine and William were seeing each other that many times in a week,” Seward wrote of those college days. Of living together before marriage, Seward wrote that 30 years prior, “such a move would have killed Catherine’s chances of marrying William stone dead.” Queen Elizabeth’s decision to buck this tradition allowed William “to develop a profound and lasting relationship at his own pace,” Seward added.

Back to the fashion show—Kate’s look was designed by St. Andrews classmate Charlotte Todd, who told People that her assignment “was called ‘The Art of Seduction,’ which is quite apt, really. I didn’t know who Kate Middleton was and I didn’t put her in it. It was just pure chance!”

The lingerie-inspired look cost less than $50 to make and was originally intended as a skirt, not as a dress. It sold at auction in 2011—the same year William and Kate married—for an eye-watering $125,000.

Todd said she was “thrilled” to play a part in the royal couple’s romance, telling People, “A small part of me will always be part of royal history. It’s madness!”