The Queen Had Reservations About Kate Middleton’s Career And ‘Identity’ Before She And William Got Engaged

Jun 06, 2022

The entire world watched on April 29, 2011, when Prince William and Catherine Middleton wed in a beautiful ceremony at Westminster Abbey, London. The heavily publicized wedding prompted all kinds of celebrations including street parties across England, William and Kate merchandise and plenty of speculation about how the royal couple would navigate their roles as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 

The couple is particularly prominent in the royal family given that William is next in line to the throne after his father, King Charles III, who ascended on Sept. 8, 2022, after his mother Queen Elizabeth II passed. At the time of their marriage, the couple had been together for eight years, after they started dating when they were both students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where the two completed their undergraduate degrees. 

A lot has happened since those days, including the couple's official engagement announcement on Nov. 16, 2010, followed by their wedding, which took place in April 2011. Since then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been busy building a family, which includes the future king, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7 and Prince Louis, 4. 

Kate, who is married to a future king and the mother of another, has a very prominent role within the royal family, as her position became much more active after she and William wed over 10 years ago. However, despite being a much-loved and irreplaceable member of the family now, there was a time when Elizabeth had "grave concerns" about her and William getting engaged, according to Katie Nicholl, a royal commentator and author of "The Making of a Royal Romance." Let's take a look.

By now, the story of how the couple met is no secret. William first met Kate when they were both students at the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland, where the two enrolled in 2001. In one of the most famous stories from their university days, the prince famously watched a charity fashion show that featured none other than Kate herself. 

The relationship moved fairly quickly and the two moved in together in a shared apartment, however it wasn't until 2004 that their relationship was out in the open. It was then that someone from the press snapped a photo of the two together while they were on a ski trip, which led to widespread knowledge of their once-private relationship.

Furthermore, their relationship wasn't all smooth sailing. It might seem hard to imagine now but there was a time when the couple actually separated for a brief period in 2007, as reported by Town & Country. Kate opened up about the split in a television interview, as reported by The Guardian. She said:

"At the time I wasn't very happy about it, but it made me a stronger person ... You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized, I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger and I really valued that time for me (the months apart) although I didn't think it at the time."

Years later, William was asked point-blank by royal photographer Arthur Edwards from The Sun: "Why did you split up?" And his answer was actually rather sweet. He said:

“Well, Arthur, I had to be sure this was the right woman for me because I want this marriage to last for ever.”

The couple, who are clearly meant to be, reconciled and haven't looked back since. 

However, although they knew they wanted to be together, some members of William's family apparently had reservations in the lead-up to their engagement, including the late Queen Elizabeth. Author Katie Nicholl, who wrote, "The Making of a Royal Romance" revealed that although the queen and Kate had met on a few occasions during formal events, they'd never met one-on-one before. In fact, the queen didn't seem to know too much about Kate, as Nicholl wrote at the time:

"The queen is interested in Kate," disclosed one source close to Her Majesty. 'She was having a conversation with a friend and asked 'What is it exactly that Kate does?' It was a fair enough question."

This was around the time that Kate had already graduated from St. Andrews and had left her job as an accessories buyer at the fashion label Jigsaw. Following this period, it became publicly known that Kate was actually employed full-time at her family's business Party Pieces. Nevertheless, the queen, who was unaware that Kate worked, had "grave concerns" as she "believed that Kate needed to have a job and an identity in her own right before an engagement was announced."

After they reconciled, William and Kate were spotted on another ski trip one year after their break up and just two years later, they announced their engagement. By that point, Kate had shown off more of her independence, and the couple looked incredibly happy when they announced their exciting news to the world. In a bittersweet touch, the engagement ring that William proposed to Kate with was his late mother, Princess Diana's ring.

The rest of the couple's story we know all too well — from their fairytale wedding to the birth of their three children, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have opened their lives up to the public and in the process become well-loved members of the royal family.

Did you know that Prince William and Kate Middleton went on a break years ago? What do you think about the late Queen Elizabeth's wish that Kate was more independent before they got engaged? Let us know, then pass this on so others can read about it too.