Prince William and Kate Middleton may seem like the perfect couple, but their journey to marital bliss was not without its bumps .
Despite being married for 13 years and sharing three children together , the pair had a rocky start that could have led them down very different paths. The pair first crossed paths when Kate was still a teenager at Malborough College.
Their paths intertwined again at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where they shared the same halls of residence and social circles. It wasn't long before their friendship blossomed into something more .
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However, after graduation, their relationship hit a rough patch. William joined the military while Kate moved to London to work as an accessories buyer at Jigsaw.
This distance put a strain on their relationship, leading to a heartbreaking split initiated by the Prince of Wales over a 30-minute phone call, according to royal expert Robert Jobson. In his new book, Catherine, The Princess of Wales: The Biography, Jobson suggests that William's attention may have been diverted by another woman - socialite Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, whom he had met years earlier on a holiday in Greece.
In an excerpt featured in the Daily Mail , Jobson reveals: "Despite being single at the time of William and Catherine's break-up, Isabella was apparently unkeen on becoming a royal girlfriend, feeling it would limit her career prospects as an actress. This did not cool William's ardor: he reportedly tried to woo Isabella, visiting her several times at her family home.
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"Despite his evident crush, she apparently rebuffed his advances. Few could have predicted that he'd return to Catherine - or that she'd ever agree to take him back..." Isabella, now 44, instead found love with Sam Branson, son of business mogul Sir Richard Branson, whom she married in 2013. They have two children together - Eva and Bluey.
When William decided to temporarily end his relationship with Kate in 2007, Jobson writes that he hit the clubs with friends to celebrate his newfound "freedom". Jobson alleges that he got so intoxicated at Mayfair club Mahiki that he started shouting about being "free" and insisted his group drank through the entire menu.
Meanwhile, a heartbroken Kate took refuge in Dublin with her mother before she felt ready to face the world. She eventually made her way back out and was photographed partying in London, often arm-in-arm with her sister Pippa.
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At the time of the split, she was linked with shipping heir Sir Henry Ropner. After their breakup, Prince William spent most of the summer holed up in barracks as an army officer, seemingly trying to move on. However, friends revealed that it took less than two months for William to start missing Kate.
He reportedly began to doubt his decision to end their relationship and was worried he might not win her back. But fate intervened when both were invited to a costume party at a friend's estate. According to Jobson, once William and Kate locked eyes again, "the chemistry" did the rest.
Dressed as a nurse, Kate caught William's attention, and they reconnected, spending the evening in deep conversation and even sharing a kiss on the dance floor. Although they kept their renewed romance under wraps initially, they were later spotted kissing at an army event in Bovington, Dorset.
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