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Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Lifestyle
Jenny Proudfoot

A royal butler recalls what Kate Middleton was like as Prince William's university girlfriend

Prince William and Kate Middleton arriving at his RAF ceremony in 2008 .

The Wales family is undoubtedly the most talked about in the world, and from their Christmas card photograph and Prince Louis' royal debut to the sweet video of the Wales children donating to baby banks, this week has been no exception.

It is the Princess of Wales who tends to make the most headlines, particularly given the release of The Crown's final season on Netflix, airing the first depiction of Kate as Prince William's university girlfriend.

Yes, it's hard to remember a time when Kate wasn't a fully fledged royal family member, but before 2010 she was of course Prince William's university girlfriend - and a very "polite" one according to former royal butler Grant Harrold, via Slingo.

"[She was] always so polite, friendly, and fun and making jokes," Harrold recalled, explaining that over the seven years he worked for the royal family, he made special friendships with Prince William, Prince Harry and Princess Kate.

"I was there when Charles married the Duchess of Cornwall, I was there when the boys went to university, when William first met Kate and they were dating - and then they stopped dating for a little while which was horrifying to me because I adored both of them, luckily they got back together," he continued.

They were "just like any boyfriend and girlfriend," he went on to explain. "Not any different to anyone else."

Going on to speak about his friendship with the millennial royals, Harrold continued: "Not only did I get to know them on duty, but I got to know them off duty too. We went to the same pubs, we ended up having a lot of the same friends - I always knew who they were and respected who they were, but I got on really well with them."

Well this is lovely.

The Crown season six part two is available to watch now.

We will continue to update this story.

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