Princess Kate’s stating it was who was lucky to be with her—not the other way around—resurfaced after a new book detailed the “humiliating” moment her future husband broke up with her.
William and Kate’s relationship was on the rocks at the end of 2006 when he called off their romance over the phone.
It has long been known the couple had an off period before they married in 2011, but further details emerged in Catherine, the Princess of Wales, a new biography by Robert Jobson, serialized in the Daily Mail this week.
Fans appeared to respond to the awkward disclosures by revisiting Kate’s own moment of pride and self-confidence when she proclaimed William was lucky to be with her.
Michael Cole, former royal correspondent, said in the documentary William and Kate: A True Love Story: “Somebody said to her, ‘Aren’t you very fortunate to be going out with Prince William?’ and she said ‘No—he is very lucky to be going out with me.’
“And even though she came from several steps down the ladder, she never considered for a moment that she was a lesser person. And I think that she is also a very mature person, almost very motherly.”
A clip of Cole’s remarks where it was liked nearly 10,000 times and viewed 110,000 times after it was posted with the message: “LOUDER baby.”
“Now, that’s a Queen!!” user @calabrisellaluna commented on the video.
“She knew she was THE prize, knew her worth, as she should,” @imkay2006 wrote.
“Sis is iconic,” @moonchild1005 commented.
Jobson wrote in his new book: “As Catherine approached her 25th birthday in January 2007, he unexpectedly cancelled plans to attend a New Year gathering in Dundee, arranged by the Middletons.
“She sensed something was wrong. It certainly wasn’t helping that newspapers were confidently predicting a royal engagement. Soon afterwards, seemingly out of the blue, William—now a 2nd Lieutenant in the Blues and Royals—telephoned her to suggest that they split up.
“He told her they both needed ‘a bit of space’ to ‘find our own way’, and he was unable to promise her marriage. In an emotionally charged 30-minute conversation, they both acknowledged they were on ‘different pages’.
“It was a devastating blow to Catherine, who felt doubly let down at being dumped over the phone. Though it wasn’t the first time William had called time on their relationship, it felt final.”
And William was not shy about putting himself out there at a famous celebrity haunt in London: “He celebrated their break-up with an alcohol-fuelled night at the Mahiki nightclub in Mayfair with his close pals,” Jobson wrote.
“‘I’m free!’ he shouted as he slipped into a drunken version of the robot dance. He then told his friends that they should all ‘drink the menu’, which they more or less ended up doing.
“Naturally, Catherine got to hear about these juvenile antics. They seemed to mark a humiliating end to the romance that had begun when they were both students at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.”
Of course, it was not the end. William and Kate got back together again and married in April 2011 in a fairy-tale wedding at Westminster Abbey in London.
Jack Royston is Regalrumination.com‘s chief royal correspondent, based in London. You can find him on at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com’s
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