Kate Middleton Once Pretended to Be Prince William's Girlfriend Before They Were Dating

Kate Middleton and Prince William were close friends in college before they started dating. Once, at a party, Kate pretended to be Will's girlfriend to save him from an aggressively flirty girl.

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Here's a fun story from the Will and Kate dating archives for you: One time, when Prince William and Kate Middleton were in college—but before they were dating—Kate had to step up and pose as Will's fake girlfriend to help him fend off a particularly thirsty girl at a party.

In her book Kate: The Future Queen, royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl relays the story, which apparently happened during the future Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's freshman year at St. Andrews, at a party thrown by Oli "Hairy" Baker.

Will and Kate's classmate, Laura Warshauer, shared the story:

How could Will not have fallen in love with Kate after that? Of course, they were already close before Operation Thirst Patrol, which is why Kate felt comfortable coming to Will's rescue at all, but this incident could only have deepened that bond.

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Kayleigh Roberts
Weekend Editor

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.