Kate Middleton & Prince William’s Surprising Love Story

But Kate “played it cool,” the friend added. “She didn’t want to give off the wrong impression or make it too easy for Will.”

She also, incidentally, had been dating fourth-year student Rupert Finch when William swooped in at the after-party.

Kate didn’t immediately break it off with Rupert, but by the end of their first year at St Andrews, she and William were obviously into each other. And then, for year two, they decided to share a flat—with other people, but still.

And yet William declared himself single during an interview for his 21st birthday in June 2003.

“If I fancy a girl and she fancies me back, which is rare, I ask her out,” he explained. “But at the same time I don’t want to put them in an awkward situation, because a lot of people don’t understand what comes with knowing me, for one—and secondly, if they were my girlfriend, the excitement it would probably cause.”