Princess Kate’s incredible tactic to get girls to stop flirting with Prince William at uni | Royal | News

Before the two formed a romantic relationship, Catherine and Prince William were great friends at university, and it was during this time the Princess of Wales managed to sneak her way into conversations with Will’s other romantic prospects.

The royal couple first met during their time living at St Salvator’s Halls of Residence at the University of St Andrews in 2002, before later moving into a shared house on Hope Street in their second year. They struck up a friendship, forming part of a wider group of pals, but it was clear the two had chemistry.

As expected, Prince William was on the receiving end of a lot of attention throughout his time at university, including flirtation from his fellow female students. Royal experts have since revealed this made Will nervous and found him often being “too polite” to reject them.

But there wasn’t much need to as Catherine, his then close friend, would step in for him, reports suggest. Royal expert Katie Nicholl revealed in her book Kate: The Future Queen some insider info from their mutual friend Laura Warshauer.

She said:”Will was getting really hit on by this girl at a party, and it was getting quite uncomfortable because he couldn’t shake her off. He was being really polite, but this girl just didn’t get the hint.

“All of a sudden Kate came up behind him and put her arms around him. He said, ‘Oh, sorry, but I’ve got a girlfriend,’ and he and Kate went off giggling.”

Before they were even an item, Catherine would rescue him by pretending to be his girlfriend, and soon enough, she became just that. Apparently after the awkward exchange the prince whispered to her, “thanks so much.”

The mutual friend made a point that “Kate was the only girl in the room who could have done that”. This is a testament to their connection, as it’s believed this situation happened just one month into their life at university.

During their heavily publicised engagement interview in 2010, they shared the story of how the two met, and the now Princess of Wales admitted her initial shyness around the prince. Catherine told interviewer Tom Bradby she went “bright red” when she encountered him and awkwardly “scuttled off”.

While William claims to not remember the exact first moment he met Catherine, it wasn’t long before he noticed her on campus. According to Katie Nicholls’ book William and Harry, released in 2010, the boys in his dorm had crowned the future Queen as ‘the prettiest girl there’. She added that he noticed Catherine the minute she arrived at university.

It wasn’t until 2004 that their relationship became public knowledge when the two were seen together on a ski trip in Klosters, Switzerland.

After living together in their second year, the two then made a home together in a private house off campus for their third and final years at university.

The home, Balgove House at Strathtyrum, belonged to one of William’s distant cousins, Henry Cheape.

The rural home was a sprawling estate and was guarded by unmarked police cars, while the building itself was allegedly made up of bomb-proof doors and windows so they could live a safe and peaceful life together.

The pair graduated alongside each other in June 2005, at the age of 23. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were all in attendance at their graduation ceremony, along with Kate’s family.

He told the Telegraph at the time: “Today is a very special day for me, and I am delighted that I can share it with my family and, in particular, with my grandmother, who has made such an effort to come, having been under the weather. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at St Andrews, and I shall be very sad to leave.”