Prince William and wife Kate Middleton are set to celebrate their 10-year anniversary as a married couple next month. But what’s notable is how the Cambridges have firmly established themselves among the most popular Royal Family members since their marriage in 2011, second to Her Majesty, of course.
Although the papers are rife with news about controversies surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, William and Kate – the couple that lives in a seemingly heartwarming bubble – have faced their fair share of difficulties as senior royals during their temporary split back in 2007.
According to the Express UK, reports have suggested that William was unsure of whether he was ready to commit to marriage. That’s right! But as speculation surrounding his courtship with Kate grew, William’s commentators claimed he was adamant on not wanting to make the same mistakes as his father.
Everyone knows how Prince Charles’ tumultuous marriage with Princess Diana ended. And according to royal expert Camilla Tominey, the Queen herself also wanted William to ensure his future relationship did not follow the same route as Charles.
Speaking on 2011's William and Kate Into the Future, Ms Tominey noted that after William and Kate rekindled their romance, they "needed to decide where they were going". She said, "Clearly it's very different for them conducting a relationship in the full glare of the media, and with all of the trappings that William's life as second-in-line to the throne has. We understand that he may have had doubts, was Kate the one for him? Clearly, he doesn't want to make any mistakes like his father did before him.”
She went on to claim, "There's pressure on him from the Queen and Prince Philip, because they don't want any more divorces in the Royal Family.”
Ms Tominey also suggested there were a lot of questions hanging over their relationship, for which they needed to take out some time to really make up their minds about whether they even wanted to be together.
A fellow royal author, Richard Kay, echoed the same while analysing how Charles' marriage and the very public breakdown that followed in the public eye, had affected William. For many, the reason Charles and Diana's relationship dramatically deteriorated was because there was a 13-year age gap between them. Mr Kay argued that for William, it was important to ensure he enjoyed a relationship that would stand the test of time. He said, "Everything about William, you can trace back to what happened to his parents. He lived through the bitter break-up of their marriage. He knows how much what happened to them destroyed their marriage. He's very concerned not to make the same mistakes."
A Royal historian Robert Lacey had also claimed last year that in the beginning, William was "uncertain" about his relationship with Kate, who he had been dating for around six years by 2007. The pair had met at the University of St Andrews, and quickly developed a keen friendship, but Mr Lacey said in one phone call this came to an end.
The Us Weekly quoted him as saying, "Kate excused herself from a meeting at Jigsaw, the fashion store with which she’d recently started working, to take a call from William in a room out of earshot of the other buyers. She shut the door for more than an hour. When she came out, she was single." But the couple started dating again in another three months, and got engaged within three years after that, according to insider reports.
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