Schoolgirl crush becomes fine romance

Prince William greets his bride as she arrives at the altar of Westminster Abbey with her father, Michael Middleton. Photo / AP

As she strutted down the catwalk in a see-through dress, Kate Middleton had no idea that her life was about to change forever.

For in the front row at the 2002 charity fashion show was an ogling Prince William.

He paid £200 ($416) for a ticket to the event at St Andrews University, where the two students were studying art history.

It has been widely reported that when Kate walked on stage with her black underwear showing through the lace, William sat up and took notice.

But Kate had already set her sights on the future King years ago.

At Marlborough College, in Wiltshire, she reportedly became known as "princess in waiting" because of her enthusiasm for a prince she had never met.

Her friend, Jessica Hay, told an English newspaper: "We would sit around talking about all the boys at school we fancied but Catherine would always say, 'I don't like any of them. They are all a bit of rough'. Then she would joke 'There's no one quite like William ... ... I bet he's kind. You can just tell by looking at him'."

Her former flight-attendant parents Carole, 55, and Michael, 61, paid for Kate and her two siblings to attend an exclusive £29,000-a-year private school with earnings from their successful mail order company, Party Pieces.

The family had lived in a modest semi-detached Victorian house in Bradfield Southend, a village near Reading, before their business took off, enabling them to move to their modern, five-bedroom house in Bucklebury, Berkshire, where Kate grew up.

She met William in her first year at university, in 2001. The pair shared the same hall of residence, but romance didn't blossom immediately for William and Kate after the fashion show.

She was already dating fellow student Rupert Finch, whom the couple subsequently invited to their wedding.

But the pair apparently became good friends and Kate helped the Prince through a rough patch at the end of his first year when he came close to quitting university.

The pair later moved into a Georgian terraced house with two other male friends for their second year and then to a cottage outside the town for their final year.

The first claims that they were an item came in December 2003.

By 2004, they had been photographed skiing together in Klosters, Switzerland. Any doubt vanished in early 2006 when they were spotted in the same spot, kissing in public for the first time.

During a television interview after they announced their engagement, William said Kate's sense of humour drew him to her.

"Obviously we both have a very fun time together, both have a very good sense of humour about things, we're down to earth, we take the mickey out of each other a lot. And she's got plenty of habits that make me laugh that I tease her about."

After university, Kate was accused of doing little with her life beyond waiting for the Prince to pop the question. She was even dubbed "Waity Katie" by the English press.

Her parents bought her a flat in Chelsea, west London, and in 2006 she worked briefly as an accessories buyer for the fashion label Jigsaw - owned by family friends.

The press lambasted her, saying it was a "pretend" job while she waited for a royal proposal.

Kate and William enjoyed overseas holidays but also spent long periods apart, William busy with his military commitments.

She did turn up to watch him graduate as an army officer in Sandhurst in December 2006.

But in April 2007, the couple split up while on holiday in the Swiss resort of Zermatt.

Sources quoted in national newspapers said Kate felt the Prince was not paying her enough attention, while others said William wanted to enjoy his bachelor status and army career.

When asked about the break-up after their engagement, Kate for the first time admitted her devastation.

"At the time I wasn't very happy about it, but it made me a stronger person. You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realised.

"I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger and I really valued that time for me. Although I didn't think it at the time."

But after two months apart, the couple were seen together on a number of occasions.

Kate joined William and Charles on a deerstalking expedition at Balmoral and attended the wedding of the Prince's cousin Peter Philips, even though William did not.

In April 2008, Kate accompanied William when he was awarded his Royal Air Force wings and also attended his investiture into the Order of the Garter with the royal family.

Her parents, whose ancestors include coal miners and labourers, met the Queen for the first time last week.