It's no secret at this point that Prince William and Kate Middleton didn't have a totally smooth courtship. The couple, who met during their time at the University of St Andrews, broke up briefly in 2007 before ultimately reconciling and, eventually, getting married and making adorable royal babies together.
The split was shocking because Will and Kate seemed like such a perfect couple from the get-go, but, apparently, that's exactly why Will was so hesitant to move forward with the relationship. In her book The Making of a Royal Romance, royal expert Katie Nicholl summed up Will's concerns:
"He was aware his father had been pressured into marrying Diana because she was deemed the suitable bride. He was reluctant to bow to similar pressure and vowed not to be hurried at the altar. He made his feelings clear, telling a journalist in an off-guard moment that he had no plans of getting married any time soon."
That off-guard quote, according to the International Business Times, went like this:
"Look, I’m only 22 for God’s sake. I’m too young to marry at my age. I don’t want to get married until I am at least 28 or maybe 30."
And, you know, fair. They were young and Will's parents did have a very dramatic relationship that was largely the result of being rushed to the altar. Since Will and Kate were both 29 when they finally said "I do," he got his wish.
"We were both very young," Will said of the split during the couple's joint engagement interview. "It was at university, we were sort of both finding ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff, it was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up, and so it was just sort of a bit of space and a bit of things like that and it worked out for the better."
For her part, Kate has said the temporary split was good for her, too, even though she was very against it at the time.
"I think I at the time wasn't very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person," she said at the time. "You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized, or I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger and I really valued that time for me as well although I didn't think it at the time. Looking back on it."
Thankfully, true love won out in the end.
