Kate Middleton "Humiliated" and "Left in Pieces" by William Years Ago, Insider Claims
Their romance wasn’t always a fairy tale
Once upon a time, Kate Middleton was just a college girl with a crush on a prince in line for the throne. As we all know, Kate and Prince William went on to live happily ever after, getting married in 2011 and having three children in the years following.
However, according to insiders, their relationship wasn't always a fairy tale. In fact, earlier in their relationship, Will failed to show up for their New Year's Eve plans with the Middleton clan, humiliating her and leaving her devastated, according to one royal biographer.
When William was 24, he reportedly spent the Christmas holiday at Sandringham. Afterwards, he was supposed to spend New Year's with Kate and her family at a rented home in Scotland. However, at the last minute he opted not to go, leaving Kate crushed, according to the source.
In The Palace Papers, Tina Brown claims that instead of ringing in the New Year with Kate, Will was having serious discussions with Queen Elizabeth and the then Prince Charles. "In Kate's absence from Sandringham, William had taken the opportunity for a heart-to-heart with his father and the Queen," Brown writes.
"In an ironic re-scripting of the scene between Charles and Prince Philip in 1981 — when Philip told him that his dithering over Diana was damaging her reputation — Charles thought it unfair to expose Kate to so much press harassment unless engagement was imminent," Brown continued.
Because of Charles' very public and scandalous divorce from Diana, the Queen favored William "waiting rather than jumping" into a marriage with Kate.
"It is an understatement to say that the Queen was skittish about any marriage that might fail," Brown writes. "So badly had she wanted William to be sure he had the right woman that she had reversed every traditional role of royal romantic engagement, lending them cottages to tryst in, allowing them to live together before marriage at St Andrew's and even permitting them to stay together at Clarence House."
Will wasn't ready to get engaged in 2006 and Kate was embarrassed that he didn't show up, according to the source. Humiliation "only got worse" over the next few years. In 2007, the couple had been dating nearly six years, and the press was convinced they would get engaged on her 25th birthday. So, they waited outside of her apartment. "Her usual composed smile was replaced with a testy glare," Brown writes. "William phoned to apologize."
The couple would go on to break up for a short period of time, leaving Kate "in pieces," according to the author. However, within time William realized he made a mistake and the two reconciled in a few months.
"We were both very young … We were both finding ourselves and being different characters. It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up so it was just a bit of space and it worked out for the better," William has said about why they briefly split. And then, they lived happily ever after.
