Prince William and Kate Middleton from Britain’s Royal family may currently be going as strong as ever, after having started a family of their own, but that wasn’t always the case. Decades ago, before the lovey-dovey couple even tied the knot in one of the most glamorous weddings of all time, Middleton and William briefly parted ways.
Back in 2007, reports stated that the two had chosen to take a break for a while. By then, they had been dating for around 3 years since their relationship was officially confirmed. But speculations of a breakup started surfacing when William awkwardly fielded questions about their relationship while Middleton took a vacation to Ireland with friends.
Kate Middleton and Prince William broke up for a while a few years before their marriage
Prince William and Kate Middleton in a still from an interview with ITV News. | Credits: ITV News / YouTube.Eighteen years ago, when the couple was around three years into their relationship, Middleton and Prince William decided to briefly part ways. While the press didn’t report it until April 14, 2007, per Express.co.uk, the breakup was so serious that the now-Princess of Wales reportedly left England in the immediate aftermath.
Back then, she went to Dublin, Ireland, on vacation with her mother, Carole Middleton, and friends. During her time there, Kate Middleton met Irish artist and family friend Gemma Billington and visited her first exhibition at the Urban Retreat Gallery and the National Gallery of Ireland.
Prince William, on the other hand, awkwardly squirmed his way through questions that addressed his relationship with Middleton at the time. During a brief press conference ahead of a Princess Diana memorial concert in the summer of 2007, he attempted to laugh it off when the interviewer questioned him about the same.
Standing next to his brother Prince Harry, he responded (per Elle), “Uh, well, uh, I’ve got lots of friends coming […] So, you know, everyone’s going to be here tonight, and it’s going to be a great night.” This had Harry taking a dig at his brother, saying, “Very well avoided, William,” to which he shot back, “Very diplomatic.”
The reason for the breakup, though, wasn’t revealed. In a later interview in 2010 with Sky News, when the pair had very much reconciled, Middleton did, however, look back in hindsight to comment that she thinks it was healthy for them to have time apart.
I think I, at the time, wasn’t very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person… You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized. Or I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you’re younger. I really valued that time for me as well although I didn’t think it at the time, looking back on it.
So they decided to take a break because they felt too consumed by their relationship back then? Well, judging from Middleton’s words, it seems like it. But even then, the Princess and Prince didn’t take long to retrace their steps back to each other.
By March 2008, Prince William and Kate Middleton were pretty much ‘back together’
The Prince and Princess of Wales with their son, George. | Credits: Image by The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London / Licensed under Open Government License 3 / Wikimedia Commons.A few months after their reported breakup, Kate Middleton attended a Princess Diana tribute concert in July 2007, where Williams was also present. This sparked rumors of a possible reconciliation between the two. However, she sat with her sister Pippa, two rows behind Prince William, so the rumors couldn’t gain much traction (per Hello!).
However, by March 2008, they were back together, as they were photographed on the ski slopes of Klosters—just as they had been when first spotted in 2004. Sources like the Telegraph confirmed to newspapers that the couple had ostensibly reconciled.
And, well, that was that. Two years later, in October 2010, Prince William got down on one knee for his beloved while on a trip to Kenya, with Princess Diana’s sapphire engagement ring. Middleton, of course, said yes. Soon followed their fairytale wedding at Westminster Abbey in April 2011, which was witnessed by nearly 72 million people.
Fast forward almost two decades since their first reported breakup, and the Prince and Princess of Wales appear to be going as strong as ever. In their 14 years of marriage, the two share three kids together so far – Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7 – as they spend their ‘happily ever after’ in each other’s company.