Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, nicknamed “Kate,” was born on January 9, 1982, in Reading, Berkshire. She is the eldest daughter of Michael and Carole Middleton, who worked in the airline industry before founding Party Pieces, a successful mail-order company that markets party supplies. She has a younger sister, Pippa, and a younger brother, James.
Kate attended exclusive Marlborough College from the age of 13. She was, by all accounts, a well-liked student who enjoyed sports and the occasional bit of playful mischief. On her dorm room wall was tacked a photo of her teenage crush: Prince William. After finishing at Marlborough with high marks, she moved on to the University of St Andrews in Scotland. There she would meet and befriend William, who would go from crush to friend to roommate to boyfriend.
Both William and Kate began studying art history at St. Andrews; only Kate would earn a degree in the subject, as William would later switch to a course in geography. She helped him to adjust to university life, and they roomed together with two friends in a house during their third year. Romance reportedly blossomed on the grounds of The Queen’s Balmoral estate, where William has a small cottage. Their relationship became public when cameras caught them skiing together in Klosters, and Clarence House confirmed that William was Kate’s boyfriend.
Kate graduated from St. Andrews in 2005 with a 2:1 Scottish master’s degree in art history. She took a job working for Jigsaw owner Belle Robinson, a family acquaintance, shortly afterward, but was hounded in London by photographers. She supported William at his 2006 passing out from Sandhurst, but his behavior while living in military barracks reportedly became unacceptable to Kate, and the pair briefly separated in April 2007.
Still under pressure from the media, Kate left her job at Jigsaw in November 2007. She and William had reportedly already reunited, spending time together at the summer’s Concert for Diana; some friends suggested that they were apart for only a few weeks. Kate left London in favor of her parents’ home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, where she began working for their Party Pieces company photographing stock and compiling catalogues.
Kate has been increasingly brought into the royal fold. The Queen and Prince Charles reportedly like her, and she has been invited to several events at which members of the royal family, including The Queen, have also been present. She watched William earn his RAF wings in the spring of 2008, and that summer she stood beside Prince Harry, The Duchess of Cornwall, and The Countess of Wessex to watch William walk to St. George’s Chapel, Windsor in his new Garter Robes. She also attended Peter Phillips’s May 2008 wedding at Windsor, acting as a representative for William, who had a previous commitment in Africa.
Intense media scrutiny led both Kate and William to seek refuge from the spotlight as 2008 drew to a close; she was criticized for her appearance at a roller-disco charity event and for allegedly talking on her mobile phone while driving. Some speculated that the pair had separated again, but they proved to still be together and happy, as they holidayed at Balmoral in January 2009 and appeared close at a charity polo match in May of that year. An eventual royal engagement seems likely, as the BBC has already completed a documentary about their relationship to air when an engagement is announced.
