The Prince and Princess of Wales famously met and fell in love at St Andrews University, and it’s long been believed that Kate first caught William’s eye when she took part in a charity fashion show.
But the future King made his feelings perfectly clear long before that, according to one of their mutual friends.
Laura Warshauer got to know the couple having arrived in St Andrews in 2001 at the age of 17, 5,000 miles from her home in New Jersey. And she had a front row seat to their blossoming romance.
Ms Warshauer, 41, told the Daily Mail that it was clear William and Kate had instant chemistry – and that they fell for each other months before the fashion show in March 2002, when William saw Kate modelling a see-through dress.
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It was thought that Kate first caught William’s eye when she modelled a sheer dress at a charity fashion show
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Princess Kate was ‘effortlessly cool’ in response to Prince William’s bold move
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She revealed: “We went to a party at a castle. It was a Harry Potter theme and they did an auction for charity where people were bidding to win a date. Will bid £200 to win a date with Kate.” While Laura doesn’t know what they eventually did for their date, she remembered Kate’s reaction was effortlessly cool.
The couple’s instant connection was clear at another party where Kate helped William escape an awkward encounter. “It was early on when Will and Kate were getting to know each other. This girl was talking to Will and he was being polite but it was obvious he needed a way out.
“All of a sudden Kate walks up from across the room, puts her arms around him and enables him to turn to this other girl and be like ‘I’m sorry, I have a girlfriend’. And then he turned to Kate and silently mouthed the words ‘Thank you’. I remember thinking at that moment that no one but Kate could have done that. They had just met each other but it was clear they had a connection.”
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Laura treasures her memories of the couple – whether it was William helping to carry her luggage, teaching Kate how to play the guitar, William buying her first ever Jack Daniel’s and Coke, eating takeaway food together, or laughing and joking during road trips.
“I wound up getting a front row seat to the very beginning of what would become one of the greatest and most iconic love stories of our time,” she said. “It’s great to see Will and Kate, the same people they were then, on the world stage.”
William and Kate spoke about the start of their romance during their engagement interview in 2010 with the Princess admitting: “I actually went bright red when I met you and scuttled off feeling very shy about meeting you.
“William wasn’t there for quite a bit of the time initially, he wasn’t there from Fresher’s Week, so it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other. But we did become very close friends from quite early on.”
In that same interview, the couple talked about their brief split in 2007 before they got back together shortly after. William said: ” We did split up for a bit. We were both very young, it was at university and we were both finding ourselves and being different characters and stuff. It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up. It was just a bit of space. It worked out for the better.”
Kate then admitted: “At the time I wasn’t very happy about it but actually it made me a stronger person. You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realised.
“I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you’re younger. I really valued that time, for me as well, although I didn’t think it at the time.”