A royal expert has revealed how Prince William had doubts about his future with Kate Middleton.
In her new book, The Making of a Royal Romance, royal expert and author Katie Nicholl said that the couple hit a rocky patch in 2006, five years into their relationship.
William had become so "anxious" about their future that he confided in his father Prince Charles and his grandmother the Queen, who, despite being "disappointed" by the news, "both advised him not to hurry into anything," Nicholl claims.
Nicholl said: "William had been having second thoughts and sat down with his father and his grandmother to have a frank discussion about his future with Kate.
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"Both advised him not to hurry into anything."
In light of his family's advice, William reportedly cancelled plans he'd made with Kate to spend the holidays together.
In her book, Nicholl alleges that William had been set to spend Christmas with the Royals at Sandringham, and then travel to Kate's home for New Year. But, when he phoned her on Boxing Day to cancel plans she was apparently "left in tears".
Things went downhill after that.
In 2007, Kate was left crushed when William made the decision to end their relationship, reportedly in a phone call while she was at work.
Kate admitted: "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 realised.
"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."
Prince William had something similar to say.
"We were both very young," he said. "We were both finding ourselves and being different characters. It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up, it was a bit of space and a bit of thing like that and it worked out for the better."
Kate put on a brave face and distracted herself from the heartbreak by partying, in the hopes of showing William what he was missing.
She even signed up to an all-female dragon boat race team.
The 21-woman team, called The Sisterhood, aimed to row across the English Channel to raise funds for children’s hospices.
Kate’s teammate Emma Sayle admitted Kate "was in touch with William the whole time", and it wasn’t much more than two months before he did indeed begin to miss her.
The pair were then spotted together a number of times, kissing at an army barracks party, at a concert to mark 10 years since William's mother's death and at the wedding of William's cousin Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly, before they reconciled in 2008.
Not long afterwards, Kate moved into William's flat at Clarance House, where he would return from military duties on Friday nights for cosy weekends together.
It is thought the couple agreed on a marriage pact during a secret break in Seychelles where it was decided that William was to finish military training before they wed.
By the beginning of 2010, with military training ongoing, William had to locate to RAF Valley on Anglesey, and Kate went with him.
That October, William made a secret trip by motorbike to see the Queen and to collect his late mother Diana’s 18-carat blue sapphire and diamond engagement ring.
Later that month, while on a safari in Africa, he proposed to Kate in a secluded spot near Mount Kenya.
Announcing their engagement on November 16, 2010, he said: “It is my mother’s engagement ring. It is very special to me and Kate is very special to me now as well. It is only right the two are put together.”
He added: "The timing is right. As any guy knows, it takes an amount of motivation to get yourself going."
William and Kate said 'I do' at Westminster Abbey in 2011 - and the rest is history.
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