Kate Middleton has spent much time at home in the last few months. Her cancer diagnosis and abdominal surgery forced her to rest at their home at Adelaide Cottage. Still, luckily, the Princess of Wales has been back to royal duties twice, as of the latest at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
The princess and Prince William have been through many challenges in recent years. While the future king has had to take on a lot of responsibility during Kate’s recovery and chemotherapy treatment, the feud with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has taken a lot of energy from them in recent years. Still, despite all the challenges and sometimes rough times, the couple has made it through together.
Prince William and Kate Middleton go way back, meeting for the first time while studying at the university. But the first time they met didn’t end up quite as the future-Princess of Wales perhaps would’ve wanted, as she once recalled an ’embarrassing’ moment during their first meeting.
Kate Middleton and the royal family have had a very tough year. King Charles was diagnosed with cancer while Kate Middleton was recovering from abdominal surgery. In March, after months of speculation about her health, the Princess of Wales revealed she had also been diagnosed with cancer.
Royal fans worldwide were worried about Kate’s future and whether she would ever recover enough to perform her royal duties and, most importantly, be there for her children. Therefore, the news that she would appear during Trooping the Colour in June left fans over the moon.
Kate Middleton – royal comeback
While Kate looked like she was really enjoying her royal return, smiling and waving to well-wishers on the side of the road, exactly how she was doing wasn’t known at all.
Some days after Trooping the Colour, royal expert Katie Nicholl claimed the princess hadn’t fully recovered, as she sat down when she could during the big royal event.
At the same time, Nicholl claimed that Kate MIddleton felt she needed to be there.
“The princess has this sort of swan-like quality about her — she’s sort of gliding on the surface — but beneath the water, I think often she’s paddling quite frantically,” Katie Nicholl told ET Online. “I can only imagine that a huge amount of preparation and time and effort and energy will have gone into Saturday’s appearance.”
“She was on her feet for a long period of time. There was a moment where she was watching the parade… and was offered a seat, which she gratefully accepted. That’s just a bit of an acknowledgment that she is not as strong, not as fit, as she was before she went into this treatment.”
“I think a day like Saturday, where she knows the eyes of the world are on her, there is a huge amount of scrutiny that will take its toll,” Katie Nicholl continued. “I think we can probably imagine that she probably had a long and well-deserved rest afterward, I don’t think we can expect to see her in public for a little while. That’s going to take some recovery from.”
Standing ovation at Wimbledon
The royal expert concluded, “I think she felt very much that she needed to be there. The children looked so happy and relaxed having their mother there… It was important, I think, for the Princess of Wales to be there to support her father-in-law, to be there for her family, and to be there for the nation to send out a really important message that she’s doing OK.”
Even though Kate made her royal return during Trooping the Colour, it was clear that she wouldn’t be back full-time. She is still recovering from her cancer diagnosis, which she received in February, but just a few weeks ago, royal fans got to see her again. And, of course, it was at the Wimbledon tennis tournament, a sport which has been one of, if not her favorite, sports.
Kate Middleton arrived to watch the Wimbledon Men’s single final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which the princess also is a patron of.
Arriving with her daughter, Princess Charlotte, and sister Pippa Middleton, Kate got standing ovations from the thousands of fans attending the final.
Speaking with ET, Katie Nicholl said she was “surprised” to see Kate at the major sporting event.
“This was an important event for her”
“When she turned up, the crowd showed their appreciation with the standing ovation, which went on for quite a while actually, and the Princess [was] very, very touched by that,” Nicholl said. “I think she looked quite overwhelmed by the moment, absolutely delighted to be there.”
“She is a great tennis player. She’s a huge fan of the game, and clearly, Princess Charlotte has the tennis bug, too, something that runs in the Middleton family. So I think, for Kate to have not gone, and would have been a great shame for royal fans, for tennis fans, and for the Princess herself,” the royal expert added. “This was an important event for her.”
Kate Middleton has received tremendous support from the public throughout this very challenging time. Meanwhile, her husband, Prince William, has taken on much responsibility at home with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
The last six months have been challenging, and for a couple like the Prince and Princess of Wales to have a big responsibility towards the public while simultaneously juggling their private life could indeed have backfired. But at the same time, looking back on their long love story, they have been through plenty of tough times, most likely making their bond even stronger.
The Prince and Princess of Wales dated for years before tying the knot and starting a family. William and Kate first met while studying at St Andrews University, and it didn’t take long before they fell in love.
Kate Middleton’s ’embarrassing’ first meeting with Prince William
Meeting a future king must have been special, and Kate Middleton recalled being very nervous. They both lived in the same accommodation block, St Salvador’s Hall and at first, they were simply friends.
In an interview marking their 2010 engagement, Kate Middleton remembered how their first encounter left her face “bright red.” Meanwhile. William had problems recalling the moment, saying he had to “wrack his brains.”
“I actually went bright red when I met you and scuttled off feeling very shy about meeting you,” Kate Middleton recalled.
“William wasn’t there for quite a bit of the time initially, he wasn’t there from Fresher’s Week, so it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other. But we did become very close friends from quite early on.”
It didn’t take long before the couple fell in love, and everything seemed great. However, in 2007, they actually split, and it wasn’t pretty.
Some royal experts claimed Prince William decided to split up with Kate because he felt the “fun” had disappeared from their relationship. Meanwhile, Kate was said to have been left “desperately upset” as she had already pictured how they would marry.
Shortly after the breakup, William allegedly roamed London nightclubs and saw several other girls.
Prince William & Kate Middleton’s dramatic 2007 split
Kate, of course, was left angry. According to reports, “harsh words” were exchanged as Kate thought she had been “humiliated” by William’s behavior. She also felt that he was “cheapening her image.”
William was stationed with the Household Cavalry in Dorset while Kate was living in London. As a result, they often spent time apart. William and Kate opened up about their 2007 split in their engagement video.
“We did split up for a bit,” William admitted in their engagement interview. “But that was just; we were both very young, it was at university, we were both finding ourselves and such and being different characters and such.”
“I think I, at the time, wasn’t very happy about it, but actually, it made me a stronger person,” Kate added.
“You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized. Or I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you’re younger. I really valued that time for me as well although I didn’t think it at the time, looking back on it.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales spoke briefly about their split in their engagement video. However, in her book The Palace Papers, author and royal insider Tina Brown revealed new details of what happened the day the two split.
Kate Middleton got news about the split in a parking lot
In April of that year, Kate and William had what Brown dubbed a “let’s get it over with” phone call while she worked as a fashion buyer at the Jigsaw office. William dropped the bomb he wanted to split up, and Kate left the office.
Instead, she went to a nearby car park.
Brown wrote, “She had to excuse herself from a meeting and pace around the parking lot for an hour-long heart-to-heart that left her in pieces.”
Previously, a former, unnamed colleague of Kate’s revealed how Kate Middleton left work when she had ended the call with William and never came back. The colleague said she looked upset but didn’t shed any public tears.
“A few people noticed because it’s a pretty unusual thing to do. She’d deliberately gone outside to take the call because she didn’t want to be overheard,” the unnamed colleague told the Mirror.
“Kate was walking up and down and looking upset as if she was having an argument. But she didn’t cry. It was clear that she was talking to William on the phone, because her behaviour was so unusual. When she came back to the office she didn’t say a thing and disappeared for the rest of the day. She hasn’t been back to work since.”
The person continued, “When someone asked where she was, they were told she was sick. Yet she hasn’t been marked sick in the book. We didn’t think anything about it at the time. But looking back, the call was definitely a girlfriend-boyfriend tiff.”
Prince William & Kate Middleton’s marriage “stronger than ever”
Fortunately, Prince William and Kate Middleton found their way back to each other. They tied the knot and welcomed three children, and today, they have conquered yet another big mountain together.
When Kate Middleton will return to royal duty is yet to be seen. However, we can be sure that she and Prince William are supporting each other fully – and the scenes on the Buckingham Palace balcony during Trooping the Colour spoke for themselves as William and Kate smiled at each other.
According to former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond, it painted an obvious picture. They have not only made it through a very challenging period but also have hopes for a bright future.
“The last few months have been a test of their strong partnership,” Bond told OK! Magazine. “I think this photograph tells us that they are still able to jump for joy, even in the toughest of times, and that Kate has deliberately chosen a picture that speaks of their optimism for the future.”
“She adores William – he is her rock and has supported her so selflessly through all of this and has taken flak from members of the public for not doing more and for devoting himself to her. So she adores her man. I think their marriage is stronger than ever.”
