Rocky Road To Royal Bliss

Kate and William are now regarded as the safest pair of hands in The Firm but, as a new book explains, their romance had its ups and downs

To the world, they seem like the perfect couple: solid in their love for each other, doting parents to three young children, compassionate to others – a steadfast pair in a family scarred by divorce and drama.

Yet William and Kate’s road to the altar was pocked with many a pothole – and it took an ultimatum from the duchess before a ring was placed on her finger.

All this and more is contained in the intriguing new book Battle of the Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult by Robert Lacey, respected royal author and historian to the Netflix hit series The Crown.

In this extract, he goes to the very heart of the Cambridges’ romance, revealing details of a smitten but troubled William and a determined, feisty Kate who wasn’t just going to be on standby while Wills sorted himself out.

EARLY DAYS

Tuesday, 26 March 2002

The date Prince William first set eyes on Kate Middleton in her underwear sashaying down a fashion runway at university. That was the start of it all – but that Tuesday was far from being the first time Kate and William had encountered each other.

Kate’s biographer Katie Nicholl wrote in 2013 how the couple had almost certainly met while they were still at school – Wills at Eton and Kate at Marlborough College, where a number of her girlfriends were paid-up members of a glossy posse of socialites who partied with the prince.