Kate (15 page)

Kate, along with a handful of their friends from St. Andrews, including the Sallies Boys, had been invited to William's twenty-first, which took place a couple of weeks later, on June 21. They had all been asked to dress up for the Out of Africa–themed birthday party at Windsor Castle. For Kate, this was the first time she would be in the presence of so many of William's family, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, who had both gotten into the spirit of the party and were wearing colonial dress. Kate spent most of the night chatting with the St. Andrews crew and was pleased when William introduced her to some of his friends from Eton as well as the Glosse Posse she had heard so much about. In turn, they were curious about the girl William introduced to them, having heard him talk so much about his new friend at St. Andrews. William, however, had given no hint that they were dating.

In fact, on the day of his birthday, he had given an interview in which he claimed he was single. “There's been a lot of speculation about every single girl I am with, and it does irritate me after a while, more so because it is a complete pain for the girls,” he said. “These poor girls, whom I've either just met or are friends of mine, suddenly get thrown into the limelight and their parents get rung up and so on. I think it's a little unfair on them, really. I'm used to it, because it happens quite a lot now. But it's very different for them and I don't like that at all. If I fancy a girl and she fancies me back, which is rare, I ask her out. But at the same time, I don't want to put them in an awkward situation because a lot of people don't know what comes with knowing me, for one—and secondly, if they were my girlfriend, the excitement it would probably cause.”

His comments about being single hadn't unnerved Kate; she knew by now that William had a habit of planting red herrings, particularly to put the press off the scent, but something happened that night that did unsettle her. From the start of the evening, William had seemed rather preoccupied with Jessica “Jecca” Craig who had flown in from Kenya to celebrate his milestone birthday. William had first met Jecca, the daughter of British conservationist Ian Craig and his wife, Jane, in 1998 in Kenya during his school holidays when he worked on the game reserve. He returned during his gap year when rumors emerged in the press that he hadn't just fallen in love with Kenya but also with the Craigs' attractive daughter, who was just his age. William was upset about the story and eager to quash the reports, so he instructed his press aides at the Palace to insist Jecca was just a friend. Kate didn't know whether they had been romantically involved or not, but she
noted that Jecca had been seated at the head table next to William, whereas Kate had to raise her glass to toast the prince from afar.

There was a mere mention of Kate being one of the prince's guests in the papers; a far bigger story had detracted from any of William's girlfriends there that night. A gatecrasher dressed as Osama bin Laden had managed to foil Palace security and not only gained entry to Windsor Castle but took to the stage while William was thanking the Queen and Prince Charles. The prince thought it was a prank organized by Harry until security men wrestled the intruder to the floor and arrested him.

Kate pushed the niggling sense of doubt she had felt since that night to the back of her mind and reassured herself with the fact that William had instigated something rather promising for the start of their third year. Having enjoyed living in Hope Street, William had decided that for his third and fourth years, when he didn't have quite as many lectures as previously, he would like the “space and freedom” and privacy of the countryside. Toward the end of the summer semester, he had invited Kate, Alasdair Coutts-Wood, and Oli Baker to move with him into Balgove House on the Strathtyrum Estate, about one-quarter mile from St. Andrews. Kate was thrilled. The house was set in stunning grounds, with glorious views from the bedroom windows—acres of lawn, orchids, and fuchsias instead of the concrete back of the Student Union. With the Palace still reeling from the security breach at William's twenty-first, it was subjected to the security measures necessary for a modern-day prince, and unmarked police cars patroled the estate while William's protection officers took up residence in the assorted outbuildings. Kate took on the role
of homemaker, dressing the windows with pretty red-and-white gingham curtains, while William installed a champagne fridge and a huge oil painting of his grandmother in the impressive dining room.

The most significant advantage of the cottage was the privacy it afforded William and Kate, far from prying eyes. Not only was the long driveway framed by hedgerows, but the couple had the seclusion provided by two acres of wild meadow, hidden behind a six-foot stone wall. William joked that it was like a miniature Highgrove, and with its crabapple trees, blooming rhododendrons, and patches of wild poppies, it was an impressive substitute. For the first weeks of the term, while the weather was still warm enough, they would pack a picnic hamper and spend pleasant afternoons stretched out on a blanket, sharing a bottle of chilled white wine, their only company an occasional pheasant. It was during these quiet, reflective moments that Kate was able to confide in William how painful she had found the recent death of her grandfather, Ron. He had died at the age of seventy-two, after suffering from motor neuron disease for some years. According to Carole's brother, Gary Goldsmith, who was interviewed by the
Daily Telegraph
, “He was up a ladder in his sixties cleaning a gutter for an old lady when he fell off it and broke both of his heels. He had to crawl into the house to phone an ambulance for himself. It was through that trauma that he believes he developed motor neuron disease. It was the erosion of a healthy man.”

Denise Allford, Kate's former teacher at St. Andrews Prep, recalled how Ron's health deteriorated after the fall: “It was a terrible accident, and although he recovered physically, the shock really affected his system.”

Jean Harrison, Carole's second cousin, who had known Ron and Dorothy since she was a girl, attended the funeral. “The wake was at the local pub in the village,” she recalled. “Dorothy was very proud of Carole and Gary and how well they had done. They paid for most of Ron's funeral, and I think she was very happy about how well they had done, but she was devastated by Ron's death. The whole family was. Kate was at St. Andrews at the time, and although we didn't know she was dating William, it was obvious from some of the things that were said that she was seeing someone quite important.”

Having recently lost his own great-grandmother, William well understood Kate's grief and gave her a shoulder to cry on. The shared experience only brought them closer.

It was this natural empathy and deep friendship that ensured they were so happy and relaxed in one another's company. Their romance was by now in full swing and made all the more exquisite by the fact that virtually no one knew of their love for one another. Of course, their close friends were aware, but they were protective of their romance and bound by the university pledge not to talk to the press. And so their third year as undergraduates began, a scaled-down version of the earlier years—smaller classes and tutorials and, when not entertaining, a quieter, more secluded home life. After the unsettling events surrounding his twenty-first birthday, Kate and William's relationship was back on track.

Their new home quickly became their castle. The cottage was spacious and rustic, with a large open fireplace. Michael Choong spent time there: “The house was really lovely. It had an Aga, a breakfast table, an outside area for a barbeque and a fire pit—perfect for entertaining.” The pièce de résistance was an impressive dining room, complete with a long mahogany
dining table with seventeen chairs, the oil painting of the Queen, and an oversized Union Jack flag.

Being out of town meant that Kate and William could go exploring more easily. William had a car at St. Andrews that he had kept in the police station for safety when living on Hope Street, but now the Golf was always within reach and he and Kate could explore further afield, driving out to the sea and walking along the beach or up on the cliffs. Michael Choong observed other parts of their routine at close quarters: “They would have barbecues in the summer and invite other students over. When people heard Will was having a party, there would be lots of people turning up in taxis. The parties were good fun and would go on ‘til late at night. The protection officers were always there, but they were very cool. They just allowed us to get on with being students. I remember turning up once with sacks of ice for drinks, and they helped me unload it from the boot. We called them by their first names and they were always very friendly.” Wanting to give William time with his friends, Kate made a point of not being at all the parties and would visit her girlfriends instead. “One of her closest friends was Mel Nicholson, who was going out with Oli Baker,” recalled Andrew Sands. “They spent a lot of time together and used to go to Pizza Hut in town, where we'd see them huddled over a pizza having a very serious conversation.” Determined to get the best grades she could, Kate applied herself to her studies and was very much in charge of domesticity in the cottage.

Around Christmas time in December 2003, rumors began to surface in the press that William and Kate were an item. Kate had already confided in her mother that their close friendship had blossomed into a serious romance and that she
and William had fallen in love. With Kate's blessing, Carole told Michael, James, and her brother, Gary, during the Christmas holidays that the relationship was serious. Pippa, who by now was in her first year studying English Literature at Edinburgh University, having enjoyed a gap year like Kate, knew exactly what was going on; the sisters spoke at least every other day, and Pippa had been to stay with Kate and William at Balgove House. Not everyone in the family had been able to keep the secret, however. Unbeknownst to the family at the time, Gary broke his niece's confidence, later telling the press that “When Kate and William first began dating, Carole telephoned the immediate family to warn them that the relationship would likely to become public. I was so delighted that at a business meeting I pushed a piece of paper across the table to a colleague that read, ‘I think I'm going to be the uncle of the future Queen of England.'”

Nevertheless, it was not until several months later in the spring that the romance was revealed to the world. William had invited Kate to join a select group of his friends on a skiing holiday at Klosters, and she had readily accepted. As this was the royal family's favorite resort in the Swiss Alps, a place to which they returned annually, it wasn't entirely surprising that William and the royal party were photographed on the slopes. Skiing holidays, rather like the family's church visit on Christmas morning, have always attracted the press, but this time they got more than they bargained for. Jason Fraser—a paparazzo who seven years earlier had snapped William's mother in the arms of Dodi Al-Fayed aboard the
Jonikal
—managed to get a shot of William gazing lovingly at Kate as they glided up the mountain on the ski lift. The photo confirmed the rumors that had been around for months, and the
Sun
was prepared to pay the highest price for the picture that confirmed there really was a romance between them. “Finally . . . Wills gets a girl,” was the headline above the sensational front-page picture, published on April 1, 2004.

The Palace was furious, accusing the newspaper of breaching the press embargo that protected Prince William while he was at the university. They argued that the agreement did not just apply to the periods of the year that he spent at St. Andrews itself. Clarence House refused to comment on the
Sun
's claims and issued a statement that made it quite clear the matter was not open for further discussion: “We don't discuss the nature of William's relationships with his friends. There may be speculation about other women he is photographed with. We're not going to get into a debate about the nature of his friendships.” Returning to St. Andrews, after their holiday Kate and William were more cautious than before, and their close friends threw an even tighter net around their privacy. Charlie Moretti remembered, “When it leaked that they were dating, we all tried to protect them. We would text William and Kate if we saw any photographers hiding out. None of us wanted their lives to be any harder. St. Andrews gave them a few years of normality, and I don't think any of us wanted to ruin that.” Vice Chancellor Brian Lang, who was in constant communication with the Palace, said the university community made a point of giving William and Kate space: “The feeling was that they should be left alone—no one wanted to single them out for special attention.”

In fact, the press did stick to the agreement, and when Kate and William kissed in public for the first time after a rugby match in May 2004, there were no cameras or photographers to record the moment.

During the rest of their third year, the couple remained pretty much behind closed doors, rarely seen together in public. They enjoyed being alone, and the time, importantly, afforded Kate a glimpse into royal life. They were often away for weekends, during which William taught Kate to shoot. She was gradually introduced to life inside Highgrove, Prince Charles's estate in Gloucestershire, as well as Balmoral, the Queen's Scottish estate, and Sandringham, the Queen's residence in Norfolk. As she had with her son, Charles, when he was a student, the Queen allowed William, her grandson, to use Tam-na-Ghar, a 120-year-old cottage tucked away in the remote countryside of the Balmoral estate, as a getaway. Surrounded by rolling hills and wild heather, it made a perfect retreat for Kate and William. After their last class on Friday afternoons, they would drive the eighty or so miles from St. Andrews to Balmoral and spend the weekend walking across the moors or strolling by the River Dee, returning to the cottage to cook and eat in front of a roaring log fire. Sometimes friends would join them, and Pippa and James would often come up to spend time getting to know their sister's boyfriend. These were idyllic times for Kate.