Royals at War by Dylan Howard

Author:Dylan Howard
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510762732
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2020-05-13T16:00:00+00:00

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By now, Kate Middleton was a good friend. William and the girl from Marlborough School had grown close despite their mutual reserve, which concealed strikingly similar tastes and outlooks on life. Kate had also been on a Raleigh venture to Chile before college, of course, so she and William found much to talk about regarding their experiences there, as well as finding that they could make each other laugh and, increasingly, feel secure in each other’s company. They both loved sports, and in his first term, William had enjoyed many tennis, swimming, and surfing sessions with Kate, followed up by drinks somewhere around town or in the university’s grand common rooms. When William found himself unhappy and unsure of his future at school, the quiet Kate was a sympathetic and willing listener, letting him talk and not bullying or pushing him one way or another. William liked that. It reminded him of his mother’s gentle demeanor and natural warmth.

Furthermore, while she was—and is—undoubtedly a beauty in the English rose mold, she wasn’t at all glamorous or made up when she met William. Rather, William’s attention was piqued by Kate’s low-key, easygoing manner, her classic good looks, and natural personality. “They were instant companions,” said a friend of Kate’s, who lived at Sally’s with her. “Kate is genuinely a very nice person. I actually felt bad for her having to deal with all of those other two-faced chicks. It’s easy to see why a graceful person like Kate would charm Will.”

Despite being something of a college heartthrob, Kate’s friends and contemporaries from this time recall the future Princess as being a pretty normal girl, albeit one who was reputed to have had a picture of the Prince on the wall of her school dorm and would frequently talk about the chances of meeting him in a joking-not-joking kind of way.

“There wasn’t just one, there was about twenty,” smirked William years later when the pair was giving a television interview to mark their engagement.

“He wishes!” joked Kate. “No, I had the Levi’s guy on my wall, not a picture of William, sorry!”

Returning to St Andrews, William made some changes. He planned to move out of his college accommodation in his second year, and in September 2002, he did—with a small group of trusted friends, including Kate.

He switched to a major in Geography, which immediately engaged him in a way his previous major hadn’t managed to. The practical side of studying Geography—field studies, scientific analyses, and research—suited the Prince’s personality and interests. He began to feel comfortable in his seminars, participating in lively discussions and overcoming his reticence in front of other students.

“He was a perfectly capable student,” recalled his new tutor of Geography, John Walden. “The academic stuff was fine, he was no different from any other student in the cohort.” He began to relax around his new classmates and made some more friends and started to let down his hair—now noticeably thinning. Meanwhile, as spring 2002 approached, his friendship with Kate, which had deepened during his minicrisis, grew steadily closer.

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