Prince William and Kate Middleton’s romance has been closely followed by royal watchers since the two first became an item during their time in college. Turns out, their epic love story might stretch back even further than previously known. The U.K. is a surprisingly small place, so it’s not so implausible that the two popular royals’ history may be more interconnected than assumed.
It’s common knowledge that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met while attending St. Andrew’s University, when Prince William spotted Kate Middleton walking in a student fashion show wearing a semi-sheer gown. A little digging into both of their backgrounds has seemingly revealed that the two royal lovebirds may have met earlier than we thought.
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Author and Vanity Fair royal correspondent Katie Nicholl wrote of a possible encounter between William and Middleton in her book Kate: The Future Queen that took place during a field hockey game. At the time, Middleton was a student at St. Andrew’s Prep, while William attended Ludgrove Prep School. Middleton’s school hosted the match, and though both were far too young at the time to pay the opposite sex much attention, the presence of royalty was a remarkable event.
Nicholl wrote, “Although [Middleton] wasn’t especially interested in boys, the arrival of one particular young man had caught her attention.” She continued, “Nearby Ludgrove Prep school would often play matches against St. Andrew’s Prep, and there was much excitement when Prince William, a left back on Ludgrove’s Colts team, came to St. Andrew’s to play a hockey match when he was nine years old.”
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Even as kids, the future husband and wife had a lot in common, Nicholl added. “William, like Kate, loved sports and was one of the best hockey and rugby players in his year. Of course, the arrival of the prince generated a flurry of excitement.”
In addition to their sporty nature, there were other ways the couple mirrored one another before they properly met in college in 2001. They also spent their gap year in much the same way, even traveling with the same expedition company. Both William and Middleton spent ten weeks in Chile hiking, helping out locals, and building. They didn’t go at the same time, but they were led by the same man, with only a few weeks separating their respective outings.
Malcolm Sutherland, the expedition leader on both occasions, called the coincidence “absolutely crazy,” adding, “For me, it was a normal assumption that everybody else would have realized what that connection was. I think a lot of people don’t realize there is that common connection there in their pasts.”
It’s almost as if the universe were trying to get these two to meet. Obviously, fate had a little something to do with Prince William and Kate Middleton’s love story. Through the ups and the downs, they’ve always had their shared history and strong bond to fall back on. With so much in common, how could they avoid falling in love?