Prince William and Kate Middleton are such a glorious royal couple that it’s almost hard to recall a time when they weren’t married. But ten years before their 2011 marriage, they were just two college buddies studying history at St. Andrew’s in Scotland, going to parties, and helping each navigate their social lives. Kate even had a cheeky trick for getting William out of situations when girls were hitting on him—and it foreshadows their future lives together, per the Mirror.
According to the couple’s friend Laura Warshauer, who spoke to royal expert Katie Nicholl for her book Kate: The Future Queen, even in college Kate had a quiet confidence around William that was unique to her. The friend spoke of one incident that she remembered vividly: “Will was getting really hit on by this girl at a party and it was getting quite uncomfortable because he couldn't shake her off. He was being really polite, but this girl just didn't get the hint,” Warshauer said. And that’s when Kate stepped in. “All of a sudden Kate came up behind him and put her arms around him. He said 'Oh, sorry, but I've got a girlfriend', and he and Kate went off giggling.”
It probably wasn’t easy to be such a famous bachelor in college, and Warshauer said that William was so grateful for the help that he mouthed “thanks so much” at her after the incident. “Kate was the only girl in the room who could have done that. And that was just a month after we started university,” said Warshauer.
Of course, we know what happened next: Kate and William would go on to become more than friends and start quietly dating while at school. Despite a brief breakup in 2007, the two would reconcile, get married, have three kids, and generally be the paragon of healthy public relationships.
And to think it all started at a college party.
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