On June 15, 2024, the world was watching as Catherine, Princess of Wales, triumphantly returned to the spotlight during the Trooping the Colour ceremony. After months of speculation regarding her health, and the announcement of her cancer diagnosis, a regal Catherine took to the balcony of Buckingham Palace with her husband, Prince William and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. As the crowd cheered, Catherine gave a grinning William a radiant smile, and a photo of the tender moment was published around the world.
The mature, glamorous couple that stood on the balcony was miles away from the casual, carefree college students who were first snapped on the Swiss ski slopes of Klosters 20 years ago, but the ease, love, and mutual respect in evidence has remained the same.
Prince George of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour on June 15, 2024 in London, England. Getty Images.
Prince William first met Kate Middleton in 2001, when they were both first-year students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. “I actually went bright red when I met you and scuttled off feeling very shy,” Catherine said to William in their first joint interview.
The two art history majors (Prince William would later switch to geography), both sporty and rather shy, soon formed a tight friendship. “We did become very close friends from quite early on,” Catherine recalled. They also had a lot of fun. “Kate’s got a really naughty sense of humor, which kind of helps me because I’ve got a really dry sense of humor, so it was good fun,” William said.
In March 2002, the press—and reportedly, Prince William—took notice of Catherine as she strutted down the catwalk as part of a charity fashion show. “The British press has been keeping an eye on classmate Kate Middleton, 21, ever since she modeled in a see-through dress for a charity fashion show at St. Andrews,” the Daily News noted in 2004.
Watched by Prince William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, tries her hand at archery during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough on May 8, 2023 in London, England. Getty Images.
For their second year, the platonic friends, who had both dated other people, decided to share a flat with their fellow classmates Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale. The next year, they moved to Belgrove House, a charming cottage outside of Edinburgh. Catherine was occasionally mentioned as one of Prince William’s gaggle of chums. In 2002, the Daily Mail quoted a friend as saying, “[Kate] is a very lovely girl, but very unassuming. She’s very bubbly, but also very discreet and loyal to William.”
For his part, the bashful prince attempted to protect all of his female friends from the glare of publicity. “There’s a lot of speculation about every single girl I’m with and it does quite irritate me,” he said in 2003. “The more so because it’s a complete pain for the girls. These poor girls, you know, who I’ve either just met and get photographed with, or they’re friends of mine, suddenly get thrown into the limelight and their parents get rung up and so on. It’s a little unfair on them really.”
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