{"id":251127,"date":"2025-07-09T15:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251127\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:49:11","slug":"prince-william-made-kate-wait-9-whole-years-before-proposing-but-its-charles-who-is-to-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251127\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince William Made Kate Wait 9 Whole Years Before Proposing \u2014 but It’s Charles Who Is to Blame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prince William<\/a> and Kate Middleton<\/a>, who met on the grounds of St. Andrew’s University in 2001, had a whirlwind romance<\/a>\u00a0before the former proposed in November 2010, in Kenya. The two later tied the knot<\/a> on 29 April 2011. William taking almost a decade to get down on one knee once earned Middleton the brutal nickname ‘Waitie Katie’ by the press. However, a royal expert claimed that it wasn’t William’s fault for keeping Middleton waiting, but rather King Charles was to blame.<\/p>\n

\"Prince
\nPrince William and Kate Middleton visit the University of St. Andrews on February 25, 2011. (Image Source: Getty Images | Chris Jackson)<\/p>\n

William and Middleton met as freshmen at St. Andrews University. Despite finding it difficult to fit in, the Prince decided to continue his studies at the college, soon befriending and dating Middleton. However, it was not smooth sailing for the couple who dated on and off for about a decade. According to The Mirror<\/a>, royal author Omid Scobie, in his bombshell book Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy\u2019s Fight for Survival, noted how Middleton\u2019s lack of a proper career and her long wait to be engaged to the Prince made her an object of ridicule in the press. William, \u00a0graduating in 2005 and unwilling to settle down, began military training at Sandhurst, followed by stints in the Navy and RAF, which lasted until 2010, making things worse for Middleton.<\/p>\n

\"Prince
\nPrince William trains with the Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service. (Image Source: Getty Images | Max Mumby)<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the same, royal expert Katie Nicholl argued that William’s ‘fear of commitment’ at the time had to do with his father, Charles<\/a>. According to Marie Claire<\/a>, Nicholl in her book The Making of a Royal Romance: William, Kate, and Harry\u2014A Look Behind the Palace Walls, detailed the couple\u2019s 2007 trip to the island of Desroches in the Seychelles when William rekindled his romance with Middleton following a brief breakup. The author penned, \u201cWith a population of just 50 and 3 miles long, the paradise island was the perfect escape. Both of them knew that at some point, they had to discuss the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"King
\nKing Charles, Kate Middleton, and Prince William during a visit to Dumfries House. (Image Source: Getty Images | Danny Lawson)<\/p>\n

Nicholl asserted, \u201cWilliam, who had inherited something of his father’s fear of commitment, knew he would lose Kate if he could not give her some form of guarantee.\u201d Therefore, an alleged pact of marriage was made during the trip that a friend of the couple confirmed. The author wrote, \u201cThey didn’t agree to get married there, and then, what they made was a pact. William told Kate…he was not ready to get married. He promised her his commitment and said he would not let her down, and in turn, she agreed to wait for him.\u201d Eventually, Middleton got her fairytale royal wedding\u00a0and the two welcomed three children, Prince George<\/a>, Princess Charlotte<\/a>, and Prince Louis<\/a>. As Middleton underwent a cancer scare last year, William stood by as her biggest support.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince William and Kate Middleton, who met on the grounds of St. Andrew’s University in 2001, had a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7730,7731,1760,391,7710,519],"class_list":{"0":"post-251127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-charles","10":"tag-charles-iii","11":"tag-king-charles","12":"tag-opinion","13":"tag-royal-families","14":"tag-royal-family"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114824070209890804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}