Prince William came up with a sneaky plan to avoid being recognised at university. Photo / Getty Images
Prince William came up with a sneaky plan to avoid being recognised at university. Photo / Getty Images
Prince William apparently came up with a genius plan to fly under the radar when he was at university.
The future king wanted nothing more than the "normal" university experience when he was studying at St Andrews in Scotland nearly 20 years ago, reports The Sun.
So he decided to go by the name Steve to avoid drawing attention to himself.
Although he technically enrolled at St Andrews under the name William Wales, his peers reportedly called him Steve so he could maintain a low profile.
The nickname could have been used by his now wife Kate Middleton, as the pair were good pals at university and even lived in the same student accommodation.
The students became "instant companions", a friend claimed. Kate memorably caught the young prince's eye when she modelled an iconic sheer outfit on a catwalk for charity.
Returning for their second year at university, William, Kate and their two friends Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale moved off campus into a two-storey home in the city.
They would often host dinner parties for their classmates, with William repeatedly trying to impress Kate with his cooking skills in their small kitchen. And he pitched in to help with the housework when he wasn't busying studying towards his geography degree.
Things soon turned romantic between the pair - but it could have all ended very differently, as their former landlady Charlotte Smith revealed she almost refused to let William live there.
William met Kate Middleton at St Andrews University in Scotland. Photo / Getty Images
Before the prince came along, Smith had a strict "no boys" policy.
"We'd had an unfortunate experience with some boys in the flat once before and we were determined not to have young men there again," she said.
"Broken furniture, broken windows – there was a lot of damage, so that put us off really.
"I said to this young lady we'd really rather not have more boys and she said, 'What if I were to tell you that it was Prince William?'."
Smith eventually gave in and despite her initial fears, said William and Kate were "ideal tenants".
