Princess Kate’s catwalk dress that ignited her romance with went viral on as one fan said she was “so beautiful.”
The Princess of Wales famously left her future husband bowled over when she took part in a charity fashion show at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, where they both studied.
Kate wore a see-through dress on the catwalk at a time when she had been going out with someone else, but soon after she got together with William.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images and Rune Hellestad/Corbis via Getty Images
Why It Matters
celebrating Kate outfit was liked 162,000 times and viewed 1.4 million times after it was posted with the message: “Kate did it for everyone.”
The edit begins with a clip from series The Crown recreating the moment using actors Meg Bellamy, as Kate, and Ed McVey as Prince William.
It then cuts to real photos of Kate in the dress on the day her romance with Prince William blossomed.
“How to make a prince fall in love with you in one second,” the on-screen caption read.
What to Know
Robert Jobson, author of Catherine, the Princess of Wales: The Biography, wrote about the show: “Though they were good friends, Catherine surely stirred stronger feelings in William after she strutted down the catwalk as a model in the now-infamous charity fashion show, held at the Fairmont Hotel, on March 27, 2002.
“Dressed in a daring, black-lace ensemble by designer Catherine Todd, she captivated him.
“‘She wore a risqué sheer black-lace dress over a bandeau bra and black bikini bottoms,’ he recalled.
“As she moved with grace along the runway, William found himself unable to look away. He had secured a front-row seat at the ‘Don’t Walk’ event, paying £200 for the privilege. If her idea was to catch his attention, she succeeded admirably.”
Kate had been casually dating law student Rupert Finch at the time but they went their separate ways.
“From that pivotal moment,” Jobson wrote, “William knew he wanted to be more than just friends with Catherine; he was seeking something more meaningful.”
Prince William, then 19, had recently arrived at St Andrews to study art history—later switching to geography.
The two were roommates by their second year, but it was at that fateful fashion show in their first year that something shifted.
The outfit was originally intended to be a skirt but Kate wore it as a dress instead—in a daring move that would leave a lasting impression.
Prince William leaned over to his friend Fergus Boyd and whispered, “Wow, Kate’s hot,” according to the Daily Mail.
Their friendship eventually blossomed into a romantic relationship, though they kept it largely out of the public eye during their university years.
The media allowed them relative privacy on the back of a negotiated agreement with the palace.
The dress itself later became an icon of royal fashion history. In 2011, shortly before the couple’s wedding, it was auctioned for a staggering £78,000 (around $100,000)—a testament to its cultural significance and the public’s fascination with the couple’s love story.
Whate People Are Saying
One fan replied, “Kate didn’t win William, William won Kate,” while another wrote: “Kate is so beautiful and that’s why prince William love her and marry herðŸ˜.”
Williams Brown is chief royal correspondent for Regalrumination.com, based in London. You can find him on at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com‘s
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