#NEWS Kate: The making of a very middle class Princess (PART 2)

By Katie Nicholl

Last updated at 3:56 AM on 21st November 2010

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Making strides: Kate emerges from St Andrews after graduating in June 2005 - she obtained a 2:1 in art history

Sandhurst was unlike anything William had ever known. Echoing the message he had expressed upon Harry’s arrival the previous year, Major-General Ritchie told the waiting media that ­William would be treated exactly the same as every other cadet.

‘Everyone is judged on merit. There are no exceptions made,’ he said.

Yet on certain occasions William was afforded special treatment. As the only cadet to be President of the Football Association, he was given leave during his second term to travel to Germany to support England during the World Cup, much to the envy of his fellow cadets. Such privileges were rare, however, and when it came to the training, neither Prince was coddled.

By spring, with William knee-deep in trench training, it was time for Harry to graduate. He passed out from Sandhurst on April 12, 2006, and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy flew to Britain from South Africa to celebrate with him.

William was also invited to the ­passing-out ball as one of Harry’s eight guests, and spent the evening downing glasses of red wine. Kate, meanwhile, was conspicuous by her absence. This was Harry and Chelsy’s night, and the two Royal girlfriends had always had a slightly frosty relationship.

Although Chelsy gets along well with Kate’s sister Pippa, with whom she occasionally goes out, she and Kate are less friendly. They got off to an inauspicious start when Kate offered to take her ­shopping in King’s Road, Chelsea. When Chelsy, whose sense of style is very different from Kate’s, snubbed the invitation, Kate was said to be offended.

Feeling slightly isolated, William proceeded to drink his fill before retiring to his room alone. At midnight, as tradition dictates, to the backdrop of an impressive fireworks display that spelled out the word Congratulations, Harry finally ripped the velvet strip from the sleeve

of his jacket to reveal his officer’s pips.

He was now a Cornet in the Household Cavalry and within weeks would be training with his regiment and preparing for war.

Despite suffering hangovers, William and Harry continued celebrating the ­following night, and this time Kate joined the Royal clique at Boujis nightclub in Kensington. She ordered a round of the club’s signature Crackbaby cocktails – a potent combination of vodka and fresh passionfruit juice topped with champagne and served in a test tube – and by 3am the group had run up a theoretical £2,500 bar bill. It was theoretical because, as always, the charge was waived since Boujis manager Jake Parkinson-Smith insisted on offering the Princes what he called ‘the Royal comp’.

The DJ played his final tune of the night and it was time to leave, but the

fun was set to continue for both Princes. William had an Easter break on Mustique with Kate to look forward to, while Harry was heading off to Mozambique with Chelsy. He would then begin troop commander training, while William would return for another eight months at Sandhurst.

A VIP seat for the Princess-in-waiting

Despite William’s protestations, speculation that he and Kate were on the verge of announcing an engagement would not go away. In May 2006, when Kate attended the wedding of Camilla’s daughter Laura Parker Bowles to Harry Lopes, grandson of the late Lord Astor of Hever, the question on everyone’s lips was when she and William would be walking down the aisle themselves.

Woolworths had already started stocking wedding memorabilia, including ­William and Kate china, ahead of an announcement; the Press constantly posed the will-they-or-won’t-they question; and the couple kept a chart of newspaper predictions on a Royal wedding.

While Kate was relatively relaxed about the constant conjecture, the Prince was less comfortable. In November 2006, just before William graduated from Sandhurst, Kate was invited to Sandringham for the Royal Family’s traditional pre-Christmas lunch, the first time a girlfriend had received such an invitation.

Graduation day: Kate, her mother Carole and father Michael at Sandhurst to see William pass out in December 2006

The story, published in The Mail on Sunday, was not denied by Clarence House, which simply said it would not discuss Royal guests.

The year before, Kate had joined the Royals for their traditional Boxing Day shoot, which had given her the perfect opportunity to use the binoculars that William had given her as a Christmas present.

But Kate had previously insisted she would go to Sandringham for Christmas only when she had a ring on her finger. Besides, that Christmas she planned to be with her family at a rented manor house in Perthshire. She was, however, happy to attend William’s graduation ceremony at Sandhurst.

As she took her place in the front row on December 15, 2006, Kate looked every inch the Princess-in-waiting. Accompanied by her parents, she had been given a VIP seat at the graduation ceremony.

When William spotted Kate in the crowd, he smiled. Over the past months, although they had seen little of each other, she had been a great support.

That week, the official UK police inquiry, led by former Metro­politan Police Commissioner Lord ­Stevens, into the Paris crash that killed Diana, concluded it was a ‘tragic accident’. Relief as well as pride seemed etched on William’s face.

As the brass band broke into a cheerful rendition of Abba’s Dancing Queen, Kate smiled. The very fact that she and her parents, of whom William had grown fond, were at one of the most important occasions of his life spoke volumes.

Bookmakers William Hill slashed the odds on a Royal engagement from 5-1 to 2-1 and eventually stopped taking bets altogether. Kate’s position in ‘the Firm’ did not seem in doubt.

Missing me? After their split, Kate responded by hitting the town in series of sensational outfits, and by the end of June she had won back her Prince

Now that it was clear that this was not just a university romance, aides at the Palace suddenly started paying attention to the middle-class girl who had so ­captured the Prince’s imagination.

Mindful of the mistakes that had been made with Diana, it was unanimously agreed that Kate should be introduced to Royal life as quickly as possible.

At William’s request, it was decided that Kate should be advised on how to cope with the intense media interest in her. He was determined that she should suffer none of the loneliness or isolation his mother had felt in the early days of her courtship with his father.

Kate was given the support of the Prince of Wales’s Press team and, when she was with William, her own protection officer. At a polo match she was spotted with a two-way radio in case she required assistance. She received advice on how to handle the photographers

who followed her about, which inclu­ded watching footage of the late Princess of Wales to see how she had coped with the paparazzi.

According to friends, Kate found it all fascinating if ‘a little creepy’.

Even without a ring on her finger, Kate had become one of the world’s most ­photographed women, and she was surprisingly confident. Always impeccably dressed, she was advised never to talk

to the Press, but to smile politely at photog­raphers, whom she handled with aplomb.

She had recently taken a day job at the head office of the High Street fashion chain Jigsaw, where she was working

as an accessories buyer, and she was looking forward to spending time with William over Christmas.

Christmas tears and a second separation

William had promised Kate he would join the Middletons to celebrate Hog­manay at an 18th Century country estate called Jordanstone House, on the outskirts of Alyth, Scotland, and Kate was eagerly awaiting his arrival.

With snow on the ground outside, Christmas lights twinkling in the grand drawing room and with fires roaring in every room, the setting could not have been more romantic. But at the last minute William had a change of heart and decided to stay with his own family instead.

According to a source close to the ­family, he informed a tearful Kate during a late-night conversation on Boxing Day. For ­William it was no big deal, but for Kate the cancellation was a sign of something more sinister to come.

She had good reason to be concerned. 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. Both advised him not to hurry into anything.

Kate turned 25 on January 9, 2007. The day before, William had joined the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry at Combermere Barracks in Windsor, where he would be stationed until March. They had had a joint celebration at Highgrove before he reported for duty, but Kate was still reeling over the snub in Scotland.

In the newspapers, however, the engagement rumour was gathering momentum once more. Just before Kate’s birthday, Diana’s former private secretary Patrick Jephson wrote an article for The Spectator magazine in which he claimed that Kate was on her way to becoming a Royal bride.

Under the headline The Next People’s Princess, the article was highly specu­lative, but there was no doubting the thrust – William was set to make Kate his wife, and her 25th birthday looked a likely date for an announcement.

The story snowballed, and by the ­morning of Kate’s birthday dozens of photographers were camped outside her house waiting for the ‘pre-engagement picture’.

Seeing the error of his ways: William with his arm around Brazilian student Ana Ferreira in a Bournemouth nightclub in 2007

The rumours could not have been further from the truth – William had no plans to propose. Instead, he phoned Kate from Combermere Barracks to apologise. William was furious that Kate’s birthday had been spoiled, and in an unprecedented statement he complained that she was being harassed and said he wanted ‘more than anything’ for her to be left alone.

For the first time Kate felt overwhelmed and desperately isolated. Usually she smiled brightly for the photographers, but now, as she made her way to work in Central London, she looked as though she was about to crack under the pressure.

Those close to the couple began to speak of doubts about their relationship. The Palace’s plans for a spring wedding were shredded as quickly as they had been drawn up and the talk now, among their friends at least, was that an engagement was certainly not on the cards.

William had started a two-and-a-half-month tank commander’s course at ­Bovington Camp in Dorset and, although the couple took a skiing trip to the Swiss resort of Zermatt in March, he and Kate were spending less time together.

He had warned her that his schedule was packed and he would have little time to visit her. So Kate was upset when William came to London and went clubbing instead of seeing her. On one occasion, he spent the night at Boujis flirting with another girl.

William was with a group of friends when Tess Shepherd walked into the club. The petite blonde knew some of William’s circle, and before long she and William were on the dancefloor, their arms entwined.

As March drew to a close, William and Kate’s relationship became increasingly strained. As if the embarrassing night at Boujis were not enough, William further humiliated Kate when he was photographed with his arm around Ana ­Ferreira, an 18-year-old Brazilian student, at a nightclub in Bournemouth.

From the picture it looked as though William had his hand on her breast. He had also spent much of the night dancing on a podium with a local named Lisa Agar, and there were photographs to prove it.

It was the final straw for Kate, and she delivered an ultimatum: either she had his full commitment or they were over. When they attended Cheltenham races at the end of March, their body language spoke volumes. Walking several steps ahead of Kate, William, his head cast down and his hands dug in his pockets, was deep in thought. Kate’s ultimatum backfired, and William told her they should have a break. Over Easter they agreed to separate for the second time.

A ‘Freakin Naughty’ reconciliation

While Kate mourned the end of their relationship at home with her family, William celebrated his ‘freedom’ at Mahiki, the faux-Polynesian beach bar in Mayfair, Central London, run by his friend Guy Pelly.

Many in Kate’s position might have moped, but she was in no mood to indulge in prolonged self-pity, nor was she going to get depressed about the spiteful ­comments from some that she was too middle-class to be dating a Prince. Instead, she put on a brave face and a thigh-skimming minidress and partied. Her message to William was loud and clear: ‘Look what you’re missing!’

In the past, some of William’s friends had been lukewarm towards Kate. For instance, they greeted her arrival at Boujis with stage whispers of ‘Doors to manual’ – a reference to her mother ­Carole’s previous career as a flight attendant and hitherto the source of much mirth, but now they rallied round.

The cold shoulder: The strained relationship between William and Kate was clear when they attended Cheltenham races in March 2007. A few weeks later they separated for the second time

Guy Pelly, once viewed by Kate with suspicion but now a close friend, assured her that she was welcome at his club. Guy recognised that Kate was good for William. He knew the Prince well and told her to give him some space. From someone best known as the jester of the Royal court, it was wise counsel.

Once again Kate bided her time and immersed herself in a project. Her close friend Alicia Fox-Pitt had signed up for the Sisterhood, a group of 21 girls who planned to row from Dover to Cap Gris Nez, near Calais, in a dragon-boat to raise money for charity. It proved to be exactly what Kate needed.

‘Kate was very down, and I think the training became her therapy,’ said Emma Sayle, who was in charge of the team and became close to Kate.

‘Kate had always put William first, and she said that this was her chance to do something for herself. We trained on the Thames at Chiswick, and Kate started off paddling with the others, but I decided to put her at the helm because she was an excellent boatman and really well co-ordinated.’

Unknown to anyone outside their inner circle, William and Kate were already heading for a reconciliation, according to Emma. They were in regular phone contact and clearly missing one another.

Reconciliation: By the end of June Kate had won back William

Emma said: ‘She 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. William wanted her to go through with it and planned to meet her on the Finish line, but the whole thing was becoming a media circus.’

The problem was once again that Kate had become the story. The Daily Mail’s Royal commentator, Richard Kay, noted: ‘Clarence House had watched on with growing unease as the Sisterhood’s ­practice sessions had become a magnet for the paparazzi.’

Kate pulled out of the race in August, but by then she and William had been secretly dating again for a couple of months. William had invited Kate to a fancy-dress party at his barracks in ­Bovington, and it had been clear to everyone there that they were back together.

William, wearing hot pants and a policeman’s helmet, had followed Kate around ‘like a lost puppy’ all night. Kate, who looked stunning and toned from her ­Sisterhood training, was dressed in a revealing nurse’s outfit. The theme for the night was Freakin’ Naughty, and provocatively dressed waitresses handed out potent cocktails.

Outside, guests played on a bouncy ­castle and jumped into a paddling pool full of slime, but William and Kate stuck to the dancefloor. ‘They couldn’t keep their hands off each other,’ recalled a guest. ‘William didn’t care that people were looking. At about midnight he started kissing her. His friends were ­joking that they should get a room, and it wasn’t long before he took Kate to his quarters.’

On June 24, 2007, I rev­ealed on the front page of The Mail on Sunday that William and Kate were together again, having been given the nod by a senior Palace aide that the relationship was back on track.

By coincidence I had spent that weekend with Guy Pelly and William’s close friend Tom Inskip at Beaufort Polo Club. William and Kate had been due to attend but instead were holed up at Highgrove alone. They were back together – and this time it was for good.

She’s ‘Waity Katie’ no more

The news that William had decided he wanted to join the RAF and become a search-and-rescue pilot was made official on September 15, 2008, and Clarence House’s announcement took everyone by surprise. William had spent the summer with the Royal Navy. He had been barred from going to the Gulf because of security fears but had enjoyed his mission aboard HMS Iron Duke, and within days of his arrival had played a key role in seizing £40 million of cocaine from drug-runners in the Caribbean.

It had been widely assumed that when he returned, he would quit the Household Cavalry and become a full-time working Royal, but the Prince had other ideas, which he announced in a statement: ‘The time I spent with the RAF earlier this year made me realise how much I love flying. Joining search-and-rescue is a perfect opportunity for me to serve in the Forces operationally.’

The British Press drew its own con­clusions and labelled William a ‘reluctant figurehead’. Joining the RAF meant ­William could postpone official duties for at least five years. Clarence House was keen to stress that the Prince would continue with his charity work, but his commitment would be to his ­military career.

The waiting's finally over: Kate and William in the State Apartments, St James's Palace, London

The decision would have serious repercussions for his relationship with Kate. According to her friends, she was as stunned as anyone when William announced that he planned to join the RAF. Being a Forces girlfriend had not been quite what Kate had expected, but then, with the future King, nothing ever was. The last time William had decided to put his career first, the couple split up. William told her if they survived this, they could survive anything.

With their careers literally taking off, there were concerns at the Palace that William and Harry should not be seen as just Royal members of the military. The Princes were already regularly appearing in the Court Circular, the ­official record of the Royal Family’s public activities, and in January 2009 the Queen allowed them to set up their own household in Colour Court, within St James’s Palace.

With so many charitable commitments and so little time, the boys agreed that they would be more effective if they combined forces. In September 2009 they set up the Foundation of Prince ­William and Prince Harry. Charles had created his Prince’s Trust with his £7,500 severance pay from the Royal Navy, and William and Harry wanted to establish their own charitable forum.

Between them they are presidents or patrons of more than 20 charities, and the foundation, which is the culmination of their charitable work so far, will become a grant-giving body in years to come. William said that he and Harry derived inspiration from both their ­parents, who had ‘instilled in us, from the word go, that with these great privileges goes an absolute responsibility to give back’.

By July 2009, William was well into his 18 months of training with the RAF, and there was simply no time to even think about a wedding. Besides, he had used up all his holiday that year by skiing with Kate’s parents in the French Alps and by seeing in the New Year with Kate at his father’s Scottish holiday home, Birkhall.

It was the first time the pair had been invited to stay with Charles and Camilla in residence, and Kate had felt very much at home. According to one aide, she had laughed ‘until she had tears in her eyes’ when Camilla told her how much she hated the heavy, moth-eaten tartan curtains that Charles refused to change because they were his grandmother’s favourite.

Kate had joined William and Charles shooting, and at the end of the day the four of them enjoyed family dinners.

By now William was based at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire and, although they managed to see each other most weekends, the couple’s time together was fleeting. It was a difficult period

for Kate, who was dividing her time between her flat in London and her parents’ Berkshire home, where she still slept in her old bedroom.

At the beginning of 2010, William had eight months of training ahead of him, and in January he enrolled at RAF Valley in Anglesey, where the couple rent a ­cottage near the base. In June he represented England at the World Cup in

South Africa in his official capacity as President of the FA, and with Harry ­visited Botswana and the kingdom of Lesotho to promote the work of the Tusk Trust.

The fevered speculation over William and Kate’s future continued but close friends told me that the couple were secure in a pact that they made during a romantic trip to the Seychelles in August 2007, and that they reinforced at the end of last year. ‘As far as they are concerned, they are as good as engaged and enjoying their lives as they are at the moment,’ one friend said.

Then, last month, Kate appeared in public for the first time in more than three months as she and William attended his friend Harry Meade’s wedding. I highlighted the significance of the fact that they walked through the porch

of the church together – they usually arrived at such events separately. I also reported that the couple had been living as man and wife on Anglesey. Friends told me that they were ‘road-testing’ married life and that an engagement announcement was ‘imminent’.

And on Tuesday, as the whole world now knows, Clarence House announced that the couple will marry next year.

Until that news, Kate, who has proved herself the most loyal of consorts, has had little choice but to wait. She has hated her nickname Waity Katie. Now, finally, she is free of it.

©  Katie Nicholl 2010

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