It’s difficult to imagine a time before Kate Middleton and Prince William were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. But prior to getting married and starting a family, the two took a break from their relationship.
Obviously, they ultimately realized they couldn’t be apart. But what happened during their separation? Here’s everything we know about the brief 2007 breakup that precluded their marriage in 2011.
They split in the spring of 2007.
In his book William and Kate: A Royal Love Story, Christopher Andersen revealed that Prince William ultimately broke up with Kate Middleton over the phone, while she was at work. In an excerpt published by Today, Andersen writes that having been with Kate throughout college, William was having doubts about their relationship. Allegedly, Kate excused herself from work to hear William’s reasons for wanting to break up, which were, “I can’t… It just isn’t going to work. It isn’t fair to you.”
Sounds familiar.
Engagement speculation was at its height when the future Duke and Duchess split.
Prior to their split, The Spectator anointed Kate Middleton “the Next People’s Princess,” bestowing upon her the honor first given to William’s mother, Princess Diana, according to The Guardian. E! News also reports it was “intense media pressure of being in the spotlight” that led to the couple’s split, especially as the world assumed that a proposal was imminent.
Kate wasn’t happy about the breakup.
In their joint TV interview following the news of their engagement, Kate revealed that she hadn’t wanted to breakup with William saying (via PopSugar):
“At the time I wasn’t very happy about it, but it actually made me a stronger person. You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized. I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger, and I really valued that time for me as well although I didn’t think it at the time.”
But William needed some space.
In their engagement interview, Prince William revealed that he needed to take time out from the relationship before he could fully commit. He told ITV News, “It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up so it was just a bit of space, and it worked out for the better.”
Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth supported the split.
Prince William got cold feet about his relationship with Kate in December 2006, royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl wrote in Vanity Fair. He’d been due to spend New Year’s Eve with the Middletons, but pulled out at the last minute. “William had been having second thoughts and sat down with his father and his grandmother to have a frank discussion about his future with Kate,” Nicholl said. “Both advised him not to hurry into anything.”
Andersen wrote in his book that the Queen was actually disappointed over the end of William and Kate’s relationship. “Prince William and Miss Middleton had been together such a long time,” a former Palace equerry told Andersen. “But it was not the Queen’s decision to make… She did not want him rushing into a commitment if he wasn’t absolutely certain this was the one.”
Kate left the country after the split.
According to multiple outlets, Kate traveled to Ireland just days after her breakup from Prince William. E! News reports that Kate went to an art exhibition with her mom, where they visited the National Gallery of Ireland, per The Express.
E! News also reports that Kate also jetted off to Ibiza with brother James Middleton during the split. INSIDE Edition added that Kate reportedly hit the “London party circuit” and was seen spending time “with the handsome heir to a British shipping fortune.”
Their 2007 breakup wasn’t their first.
Royal biographer Katie Nicholl explored Kate and William’s relationship in depth in her 2010 book, William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls. In an excerpt published by Vanity Fair, Nicholl revealed that prior to their much-publicized 2007 split, William and Kate also took a break from their relationship during the summer of 2004.
According to Nicholl, Prince William started to feel “claustrophobic” as he approached graduation. Apparently, the prince booked a vacation with family friend Guy Pelly (who is, of course, one of Prince Louis’ godparents), and went away on the “boys-only sailing trip to Greece.” The royal biographer also revealed that Kate’s “turbulent” relationship with Pelly meant that she wasn’t surprised when William’s friend hired “an all-female crew for the yacht.”
At the time, Kate retreated to the Middleton family home in Berkshire, and it wasn’t until Christmas of the same year that reports of a reconciliation emerged.
William was spotted with other women during both separations.
In 2004, while taking time out from his relationship with Kate, William was linked to heiress Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, American heiress Anna Sloan, and Jecca Craig, per Vanity Fair.
Also according to Vanity Fair, in 2007, prior to their separation, Prince William was spotted with several women. Firstly, he was reportedly seen dancing in Boujis nightclub with Tess Shepherd, who knew some of his friends. Not long after, William was allegedly seen with 18-year-old Brazilian student Ana Ferreira in a nightclub in Bournemouth (a coastal town in England). On the same night, he was photographed dancing on a podium with a woman named Lisa Agar.
People confirms, via a source, that when Kate saw pictures of William out in bars with other women, she realized that their relationship had hit an impasse. Per the source, “Here was a guy hanging out in nightclubs without her—she knew he was not ready to settle down.”
But they never lost contact.
During the break, Kate signed up for the Sisterhood, which was a group of women who planned to row a dragon boat all the way from Dover in England to Cap Gris-Nez, near Calais in France, to raise funds for charity. The team’s leader, Emma Sayle, told royal expert Katie Nicholl (in Vanity Fair), that during the split, Kate channeled her energy into training, but that she also kept in touch with Prince William. According to Sayle, Kate “was in touch with William the whole time, and by the end of her training she was back together with him and said she had to pull out of the race.”
Ultimately, Kate and William realized that they should be together, and judging by all reports, the time apart only strengthened their relationship. Despite any drama that took place during their brief breakup, the Duke and Duchess made the decision to get back together, and now we can’t imagine the royal family without them.
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