- Before they made their relationship public, Prince William invited Kate Middleton to his 21st birthday party.
- Will hurt Kate's feelings at the party, however, when he spent much of the evening focused on his rumored ex, Jecca Craig.
- According to royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl, Will also sat Jecca right next to himself at the party while Kate was at a table far from his.
Prince William and Kate Middleton might be living their happily ever after now, but their fairytale story had plenty of ups and downs before they got there. One of the couple's early lows came during Will's 21st birthday party, when the prince did something that reportedly hurt Kate's feelings in a big way.
Their relationship was still a secret at the time, but Will invited Kate to his party. Before the party, Will gave an interview in which he insisted he was still single and went on about it at some length, saying:
"There's been a lot of speculation about every single girl I am with, and it does irritate me after a while, more so because it is a complete pain for the girls. These poor girls, whom I'eve either just met or are friends of mine, suddenly get thrown into the limelight and their parents get run up and so on. I think it's a little unfair on them, really. I'm used to it, because it happens quite a lot now. But it's very different for them and I don't like that at all. If I fancy a girl and she fancies me back, which is rare, I ask her out. But at the same time, I don't want to put them in an awkward situation because a lot of people don't know what comes with knowing me, for one—and secondly, if they were my girlfriend, the excitement it would probably cause."
That wasn't the thing that hurt Kate though. According to royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl, Kate was used to Will lying to the press to protect his privacy and she totally understood. In her her book Kate: The Future Queen, however, Nicholl describes a slight Will committed against Kate at his party.
Even though Will invited Kate to the party, he didn't spend much time with her. Instead, he was focused on Jecca Craig, his old friend and rumored ex who had flown in from Kenya for the party.
Worst of all? Will gave Jecca a seat of honor at the party and sat Kate far away from his table. Ouch.
"Kate didn't know whether they had been romantically involved or not, but she noted that Jecca had been seated at the head table next to William, whereas Kate had to raise her glass to toast the prince from afar," Nicholl wrote.
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