Prince William and Kate Middleton have been a couple for almost two decades. The two met while studying at St. Andrews, and even though they have been through some tough times, they have always resolved whatever issues hit them.
In recent months, however, Kate Middleton’s surgery and the speculations it has brought have put the Prince and Princess of Wales in a rather tough spot. Bizarre theories surrounding Kate’s absent behavior have flooded the internet, and now, William has even been forced to address them.
While Kate is still not back on royal duty, life within the Firm can be challenging. At the start of their relationship, Kate understood it would take up a lot of time. Before marrying William, the princess had a regular job, but being there for her boyfriend was still prioritized. Therefore, Kate made quite an unusual request to her employer—all because of her romance.
When Prince William and Kate Middleton met at St. Andrews University and fell in love, it didn’t take long before the newspapers were all over her.
While she had no skeletons in the closet, it didn’t stop the newspapers from coming after her in the most cruel way possible, giving her lousy nicknames.
Prince William & Kate Middleton – early relationship
However, just like today, Kate never appeared to care about the things written about her. In private, Prince William played an important role.
At an early stage in their relationship, the future king had already begun preparing Kate for what was to come and all the things she needed to know about royal life.
“It was very sensible in the circumstances for Kate and William to get to know each other over the length of time that they felt appropriate. But it can be hurtful seeing those headlines and obviously very stressful,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams. said.
William and Kate had their fair share of ups and downs, like any other couple. Although we know the two figured everything out today, that was different for some time.
After some rather startling line of events, William and Kate split in 2007. It didn’t take long before rumors about what had happened spread.
Some royal experts claimed Prince William decided to split up with Kate because he felt the “fun” had disappeared from their relationship. Meanwhile, Kate was said to have been left “desperately upset” after the breakup, as she had already pictured how they would marry.
Shortly after, William allegedly roamed London nightclubs and met several other girls. Kate, of course, was left angry. According to reports, “harsh words” were exchanged as Kate thought she had been “humiliated” by William’s behavior. She also felt that he was “cheapening her image.”
Kate Middleton says split from William made her a “stronger person”
William was stationed with the Household Cavalry in Dorset while Kate was living in London. As a result, they often spent time apart. William and Kate opened up about their 2007 split in their engagement interview.
“We did split up for a bit,” William admitted in their engagement interview. “But that was just; we were both very young, it was at university, we were both finding ourselves and such and being different characters and such.”
“I think I, at the time, wasn’t very happy about it, but actually, it made me a stronger person,” Kate added.
“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.”
READ MORE
- Kate Middleton dated several men before meeting Prince William – one reportedly ‘broke her heart’
- Never-before-seen picture of Kate Middleton released, and royal fans are going crazy
The Prince and Princess of Wales spoke briefly about their split in their engagement interview. But in her book The Palace Papers, author and royal insider Tina Brown revealed new details of what happened the day the two split.
In April, Kate and William had what Brown dubbed a “let’s get it over with” phone call while she worked as a fashion buyer at Jigsaw. William dropped the bomb he wanted to split up, and Kate left the office.
Instead, she went to a nearby car park.
Brown wrote, “She had to excuse herself from a meeting and pace around the parking lot for an hour-long heart-to-heart that left her in pieces.”
Kate Middleton was dumped by William in a carpark
Previously, a former, unnamed colleague of Kate’s revealed how Kate Middleton left work when she had ended the call with William and never came back. The colleague said she looked upset but didn’t shed any public tears.
“A few people noticed because it’s a pretty unusual thing to do. She’d deliberately gone outside to take the call because she didn’t want to be overheard,” the unnamed colleague told the Mirror.
“Kate was walking up and down and looking upset as if she was having an argument. But she didn’t cry. It was clear that she was talking to William on the phone, because her behaviour was so unusual. When she came back to the office she didn’t say a thing and disappeared for the rest of the day. She hasn’t been back to work since.”
The person continued, “When someone asked where she was, they were told she was sick. Yet she hasn’t been marked sick in the book. We didn’t think anything about it at the time. But looking back, the call was definitely a girlfriend-boyfriend tiff.”
We all know that William and Kate didn’t stay apart for long. They got together and engaged, and in 2011, they celebrated their union by tying the knot in a massive wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
Becoming a royal—and a princess—on paper was indeed something else than just being the girlfriend of a future king for Kate.
Not only did it mean she was officially a part of the royal family, but it also meant her life would be dedicated to The Crown, with royal duty almost daily. It sure is an extraordinary way of life, and it seems like Kate Middleton still enjoys it to a great extent.
What did Kate Middleton do for work before becoming a royal?
Queen Elizabeth was the monarch for more than 70 years, so it’s safe to say that the Princess of Wales has some years left to serve The Crown.
Before her marriage to William, Kate Middleton could not enjoy everything royal life had to offer regarding the flashy lifestyle. Sure, her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton had made a fortune with their party supply company, but in the end, Kate had to find herself a job on her own.
As mentioned before, she worked as a fashion buyer at Jigsaw around the end of 2006. But while many believed she was the woman who would marry the future king, Kate appeaed to have already thought of her royal life, even though William hadn’t popped the question at the time.
In 2006, shortly after she graduated from St Andrews, Kate Middleton landed a job at the fashion chain Jigsaw.
A spokeswoman for Jigsaw said, “We can confirm that Kate joined our staff two or three weeks ago as an accessory buyer for Jigsaw and Jigsaw Junior. We can’t comment any further.”
Kate studied art history at St Andrew’s, and getting a job at Jigsaw was probably pretty easy for the then-future princess. The co-founders, fashion tycoons John and Belle Robinson, were close family friends of the Middletons.
In an interview with the Evening Standard, Belle Robinson recounted the conversation with Kate, explaining that the two first met when Belle loaned her holiday home to Prince William and his girlfriend. Later, Kate began supporting Jigsaw at several events, and in the end, Kate wanted to work there.
Kate Middleton requested to only work part-time because of her relationship with “high profile man”
As per The Sun, Kate had already helped out on a fashion shoot, where she ran errands and fetched cups of tea and snacks before gaining employment there.
“[Kate] rang me up one day and said: ‘Could I come and talk to you about work?’ She genuinely wanted a job but she needed an element of flexibility to continue the relationship with a very high-profile man and a life that she can’t dictate.” Robinson told the Evening Standard. “She’s going to be dictated to when she’s needed and not needed.”
Belle continued explaining that the now princess was “so impressed” with Kate Middleton’s work ethic and that she was “very mature for a 26-year-old.”
“She sat in the kitchen at lunchtime and chatted with everyone from the van drivers to the accounts girls. She wasn’t precious. A lot of people have distorted it to say we’re friends with her parents, but I’ve only met them four times.”
Getting Kate Middleton on as an employee was a massive deal for Jigsaw—at least, that’s what many experts thought. The fact that a possible future princess worked at their company was significant for marketing and the brand itself.
READ MORE
- Kate Middleton was bullied at school & left “thin and pale” after what classmates did to her
- Real reason Kate Middleton was stopped from calling her mother after George’s birth, revealed
Although it was an excellent job for Kate, she had already begun planning her future life before starting at Jigsaw. According to royal expert Rebecca English, Kate had requested to have her position only part-time, and the reason was different from the one most people use.
“She worked as an accessories buyer but interestingly, someone at the firm told me at the time she went to the boss and said to them, ‘I need a job, but it needs to be part-time so I can work it around my relationship with this very high profile man,'” English said in the documentary William & Kate: Too Good To Be True?.
“That’s quite unusual for a modern working woman. She did that job for a while, but unfortunately, the attention of photographers following her to and from work became too much.”
Queen Camilla also worked a ‘regular’ job
Kate Middleton didn’t stay at Jigsaw for too long. In 2007, she left the brand to work for her parents’ business, Party Pieces, instead. Four years later, as she and William tied the knot, the princess had worked her last shift as a “normal” employee. In her ideal world, she would never return to a regular job again.
The Princess of Wales isn’t the only royal to have held a “normal” job. Actually, we don’t even have to look further than the now-senior royal family members to find one: Queen Camilla.
Before her 2005 wedding to King Charles, Camilla studied at Dubrells School in Sussex and later at Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington before finishing her school days at the Institut Britannique in Paris, where she studied both French and French Literature.
According to the Mirror, she worked as a secretary at several firms in London’s West End area and later as a receptionist at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler in Mayfair.
Do you think Kate Middleton will become a good queen in the future? Please share your thoughts by sharing this article on Facebook with friends and family.
If you enjoyed this article, you may be interested in reading more about the Princess of Wales below.
