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Ever since Prince William and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, also known as Kate Middleton, got together in the early 2000s, people have had their strong opinions about them. While most people who like the royals love them, the pair haven’t been free of controversy. However, the biggest controversies the pair have faced have everything to do with their relationship-turned-marriage.
As many know, William and Kate met back in 2001 at St. Andrews University, and struck a friendship. In 2002, they moved in together with some friends, and that same year, they started dating.
However, they split up in 2003 and again in 2007, but they got back together quickly after each time. In 2010, William finally proposed to Kate, and they married in an iconic ceremony held on April 29, 2011. Since then, they’ve welcomed three children, and have risen in the ranks in the royal family.
Ever since they got together, though, there has been controversy, such as their breakups, the affair rumors, PDA, and more.
Below, see all of those romance controversies between the two, and how they were handled.
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The Rose Hanbury Affair Rumors
Image Credit: Getty ImagesAs many know, Rose Hanbury and Kate were friends for years, and in 2019, the Sun published a piece saying the two had a falling out (which, according to Richard Kay, nearly left both getting legal action in response). Then, writers Giles Coren and Nicole Cliffe both claimed that there was an alleged affair between William and Hanbury in 2019, per IBTimes. Rumors swirled that the affair had been going on since 2017.
Despite the persistent rumors about secret dates and the fallout, there has been no physical or tangible proof of an affair besides deleted tweets and hearsay.
In fact, the rumors became so severe that Hanbury herself had to speak out about them. In details obtained by Business Insider, her team said, “the rumours are completely false.”
But even though it was all false, it still threw all of them into controversy.
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Their Breakups & William’s Dating
Image Credit: Getty ImagesSo, William and Kate reportedly broke up for the first time in 2004 for a “trial separation,” and during that time, according to Katie Nicholl’s 2010 book William and Harry, via Express UK, he pursued millionaire heiress Isabella Calthorpe and American heiress Anna Sloan.
Then, in 2007, William dumped Kate over the phone in a 30-minute call, soon after cancelling their New Year’s Eve plans, according to Robert Jobson’s biography, Catherine, the Princess of Wales. Soon after, he was seen out partying with a woman named Ana Ferreira, per Daily Mail.
However, Will and Kate ended up reuniting for good in June 2007.
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William’s Wedding Ring Debacle
Image Credit: Getty ImagesHave you noticed this? While Kate wears a wedding ring all the time, William never does; and fans aren’t too thrilled about that revelation. Royal commentator Eloise Parker said to Marie Claire: “Although it’s traditional for royal women to wear both an engagement ring and a wedding ring after they get married, it’s never been traditional for royal men to wear one. That’s why Prince Philip and Prince William don’t wear them. I think when you have a wedding watched by millions, everyone knows you’re married!”
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Their Scary Fights Behind Closed Doors
Image Credit: Getty ImagesIn Tom Quinn’s book Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family, royal insiders and palace staff told him that Kate and William allegedly have some blowout-level fights. “It’s not all sweetness. They have terrible rows where they throw things at each other. Kate might seem to be a very calm person, and William also,. But it’s not always true. Because the big stress for William and Kate is that they’re constantly surrounded by [palace aides]. It’s like a Jane Austen novel.”
So, obviously, that didn’t please royal fans and they started speculating like crazy.
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Honeymoon Photo Leak
Image Credit: Getty ImagesDuring Kate and William’s honeymoon, a photographer leaked topless photos of Kate.
“When news broke in September 2012 that a French magazine had published intimate holiday pictures of the then Duchess of Cambridge, I had never seen her husband, Prince William, so angry,” Royal expert, Rebecca English wrote to DailyMail. “Jaw clenched, he could barely contain his fury as they stoically continued to undertake a day of engagements in Malaysia as part of a hugely high-profile foreign tour to mark his grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.”
There was so much controversy about this, and luckily, William and Kate fought back. According to The Cut, Kate got $120,000 in damages, with the editor and publisher getting fined 45,000 euros each.
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William Was Absent From Kate’s Cancer Video
Image Credit: The RFU Collection via Getty ImaKate announced her cancer diagnosis on March 22, 2024 with a heartbreaking video of herself on a bench. Many were immediately upset that William wasn’t by her side, saying he should’ve been there. However, UK body language expert Judi James told Page Six that Kate being alone in the video was probably her choice.
“The fact she sits alone is a testament to her strength and courage. Despite her obvious frailty, there are many signs of ongoing strength, determination, and firmness in her non-verbal signals,” she said, adding it was “one of the bravest solo speeches of any royal in history.”
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Too Much PDA
Image Credit: Getty ImagesThis was truly a can’t-win situation, because any time Kate and William kissed or had flirty interaction, many picked it apart or called it fake…
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Or Not Enough PDA
Image Credit: Getty Images…then on the inverse, they get hate for now showing enough PDA and being dubbed “not in love.” In fact, royal expert Richard Palmer had to shut that notion down, saying to The Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson: “I read stuff online about the state of their marriage and I just don’t recognise it at all. Because whenever I’ve seen them up close – I mean, it’s very difficult to know what goes on in anybody’s marriage, whether they’re public figures or close friends or whatever, things go on behind closed doors – but everything I’ve seen of that couple suggests to me that they are really close.”
He added, “The body language, everything, you can just tell that they, I think anyway, that they’re really into each other and the marriage has worked. There’s a meeting of minds there.”
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How William Handled the Photoshop Fail
Image Credit: WireImageAccording to an excerpt from Catherine, the Princess of Wales: A Biography of the Future Queen by Robert Jobson, he claims William “refused to budge” in taking one for the team with Kate when that infamous photoshop fail happened on Mother’s Day 2024.
“His PR team suggested he and Catherine issue a joint statement to help deflect the blame from her. The initial prepared statement used the words ‘we’ and ‘our’, but the prince decided not to release it,” wrote Jobson. “After all, it was his wife who’d manipulated the snap and nothing to do with him, and if the press found out that he was covering for the princess, the speculation would only grow. When the statement was finally issued, it came from Catherine alone.”
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When William Went on a Bros Trip
Image Credit: Getty ImagesKate and William did skip the 2017 Westminster Abbey Commonwealth Day celebration, but they were absent for different reasons. In fact, William went on a ski trip with his bros to Verbier, Switzerland, without Kate. And to make matters worse, it wasn’t entirely a bros trip because he was pictured with Australian model Sophie Taylor at a ski lodge, according to Grazia.
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“Waity Katie”
Image Credit: Samir Hussein/WireimageIt’s probably been a minute since you heard that but back in the 2000s, tabloids dubbed Kate “Waity Katy” because she waited nearly a decade for a proposal. But can we say: who cares?! Wait one year, ten years, or 40; every relationship is different.