{"id":390972,"date":"2025-09-02T04:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T04:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/390972\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T04:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T04:16:09","slug":"why-prince-williams-2008-valentines-dinner-for-kate-middleton-was-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/390972\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Prince William\u2019s 2008 Valentine&#8217;s Dinner for Kate Middleton Was Special"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>After meeting at the University of St. Andrews in 2001, Prince William and Kate Middleton began dating around 2002 or 2003 and, in 2007, briefly split.<\/li>\n<li>For their first Valentine\u2019s Day after their breakup\u2014in 2008\u2014royal butler Grant Harrold was on hand for the \u201cromantic\u201d three-course meal at Highgrove, Prince Charles\u2019s country home.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThey seemed closer than ever,\u201d Harrold details in his new book, out in the U.S. on September 23.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_2-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> When Grant Harrold served as a royal butler at <a class=\"recommendation-inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instyle.com\/king-charles-begged-prince-william-not-make-mistake-he-made-11737354\" link-destination-recommendation=\"true\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Prince Charles<\/a>\u2019s country home, Highgrove, he regularly suggested to <a class=\"recommendation-inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instyle.com\/prince-william-wont-be-pushed-around-11759097\" link-destination-recommendation=\"true\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Prince William<\/a> and his then-girlfriend <a class=\"recommendation-inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instyle.com\/kate-middleton-royal-curtsy-king-charles-8756042\" link-destination-recommendation=\"true\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kate Middleton<\/a> that he arrange a formal dinner for them.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_4-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> \u201cThey never had dinner in the dining room and preferred to take it on trays, and as their first butler I wanted them to have dinner where I served them properly in the dining room,\u201d Harrold writes in his book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Royal-Butler-Remarkable-Life-Service\/dp\/B0DW4LYB34\" data-component=\"amazon\" data-source=\"affiliate\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Royal Butler: My Remarkable Life in Royal Service<\/a>, which is out in the U.S. on September 23. \u201cI\u2019d been suggesting this for years and they always laughed it off, saying they didn\u2019t want any fuss. But then, one day, out of the blue, he suddenly said, \u2018Okay, let\u2019s do a dinner, if you\u2019re happy to.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p> Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>POOL \/ Tim Graham Picture Library \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_7-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> This wasn\u2019t going to be a normal weeknight dinner\u2014the formal dinner was to take place on Valentine\u2019s Day 2008, William and Kate\u2019s first February 14 together after their brief breakup the year prior. \u201cAs far as I knew,\u201d Harrold writes, this was \u201cthe first time the young couple had been able to enjoy such a romantic meal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_9-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> After their breakup, \u201cthey seemed closer than ever,\u201d Harrold writes.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_11-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Speaking to InStyle exclusively, Harrold says that he \u201cwas desperate to do this for them\u201d because he thought at the time \u201cI don\u2019t ever want to leave and not have had the opportunity of doing a proper dinner, because they didn\u2019t like formality.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p> Prince William and Kate Middleton on February 10, 2007, just before their breakup.<\/p>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_14-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> \u201cI used to offer all the bloody time,\u201d Harrold says. While he would sometimes do dinner for William, Kate, and their friends, it was never just for the two of them. \u201cAnd I think it was also, in fairness to them, it\u2019s a trust thing as well,\u201d he adds. While Harrold doesn\u2019t reveal exactly what was said in that romantic Valentine\u2019s Day meal, he did say that \u201cit was a great honor to be there to do it. And it was amazing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_16-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Seeing as this was 17 years ago, Harrold can\u2019t remember the exact menu, though he says it had three courses and, \u201cIf I was to take a guess, I would say something like chicken\u201d was served, he says.\n<\/p>\n<p> Kate Middleton and Prince William on February 9, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_19-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> \u201cAnd it was lovely because it was just them, and what was really nice\u2014because they were having a very open conversation with each other, lovey dovey, as you can imagine [with] Valentine\u2019s and all this kind of thing\u2014William actually did some finishing touches,\u201d Harrold says of the meal. \u201cI can\u2019t remember exactly what, but I know he\u2019d done finishing touches. Now whether it was little love hearts or whatever, he did do finishing touches to the table. So he\u2019s a romantic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_21-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Even though Harrold says he tried to stay out of the way, typical to their down to earth nature, \u201cthey still engaged with me, and it was really cool,\u201d he says. The \u201cvery intimate\u201d dinner was followed by the couple, who would have then been in their mid-20s, went to thank the chef personally for the meal.\n<\/p>\n<p> Kate Middleton and Prince William on April 20, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p> Kate Middleton and Prince William at the Royal Charity Polo Cup in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_27-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Kate\u2014who was called as such back in those days, not Catherine, as she is today\u2014was \u201cvery polite, sweet, and personable,\u201d Harrold writes in the book. Harrold tells InStyle that, when it comes to William, \u201cthere\u2019s no acting. There\u2019s no pretense.\u201d To illustrate this, Harrold writes in the book about asking the future king what to call him upon meeting him for the first time. \u201cWilliam\u2014my name\u2019s William,\u201d the royal told him.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_29-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> In the 2000s, Harrold often got mistaken for William \u201cyears and years ago, when I was a lot younger and better looking, back in those days when I was fresh-faced,\u201d he quips. \u201cHe was very handsome. So it was a huge compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After meeting at the University of St. Andrews in 2001, Prince William and Kate Middleton began dating around&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7714,7713,533,2832,532,2831,7710,519,7711,7712],"class_list":{"0":"post-390972","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-catherine","10":"tag-catherine-middleton","11":"tag-kate-middleton","12":"tag-prince-of-wales","13":"tag-prince-william","14":"tag-princess-of-wales","15":"tag-royal-families","16":"tag-royal-family","17":"tag-uk-royal-family","18":"tag-william"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390972","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=390972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}