‘Wow. Kate’s hot!’
Those were the words that Prince William said to his friend Fergus Boyd when he saw his future wife walk down a catwalk in her very racy outfit.
Kate Middleton, as she then was, was taking part in the DONT WALK charity gala at the University of St Andrews – where she and William were both students – in March 2002.
As outlined in Robert Lacey’s 2020 book Battle of the Brothers, William had covertly paid for his £200 front row seat through a friend, so few people knew that he would be there.
Backstage, Kate had decided to wear what was originally a skirt – designed by textiles student Charlotte Todd – as a mini-dress.
The sheer garment showed her black underwear and slim figure and immediately caught the eye of William.
Kate Middleton walking down the catwalk during the DONT WALK charity gala at St Andrews University on March 27, 2002. Prince William was in the audience and allegedly told a friend: ‘Wow, Kate’s hot!’
Prince William and Kate on the day of their graduation ceremony at St Andrews on June 23, 2005
It was a change from Kate’s usual attire of how a friend apparently described as ‘a very public school look of Ralph Lauren shirts, V-neck jumpers and jeans’.
That year’s gala was to raise money for the families of victims in the 9/11 attacks that had happened six months previously.
Though both were dating other people at the time, William is believed to have made a clumsy pass at Kate at the show’s after-party.
Although she is said to have rebuffed him, they remained friends and then became a couple within a few weeks.
William and Kate then moved in together with friends – including Mr Boyd – before moving in to a farmhouse near the university campus.
Although their relationship remained low-key, there was a slight slip when Kate’s mother Carole told her brother Gary Goldsmith of the romance at Christmas in 2003, according to Mr Lacey.
Kate’s uncle then apparently passed a note to a colleague during a meeting that read: ‘I think I’m going to be the uncle of the future Queen of England!!!’
However, it was still kept mostly quiet until March 2004, when photographs of the pair on a skiing holiday were published.
Prince William pictured on his first day at St Andrews University in 2001
Prince William in wetsuit carrying a surfboard along the shoreline with two friends at St Andrews in Scotland, 2004
William chose St Andrews to study Art History, the same as his future wife. But he then changed courses, opting for Geography instead
Prince William lived with Kate, and other friends, at Balgove House near the university campus
A Daily Mail newspaper clipping at the time described the now Princess of Wales as ‘catwalk Kate’
However, in 2007, the couple briefly split up. Prince William had started a new job as an Army officer with the Blues and Royals and was said to be eager to avoid the mistake his parents had made by marrying too soon.
William drowned his sorrows with an outing to the Mahiki club in Central London, while Kate went on a trip to Dublin with her mother.
By mid-May, the couple were talking on the phone again and by June Kate was spotted at a fancy dress party at William’s barracks.
It was upwards from there for the couple, who announced their engagement in November 2010 and married in a majestic ceremony at Westminster Abbey in April the following year.
As for Kate’s catwalk ‘dress’, Ms Todd sold it at auction to a private buyer for £78,000 in 2011.
The outfit only cost £30 to make from scraps of material for a project, according to the Daily Mail at the time.
Ms Todd went on to launch her own short-lived fashion brand. Her debut collection included 12 updated versions of Kate’s tube dress in six colour ways.
The Queen and Prince Charles were all at St Andrews to see William graduate with a 2:1 degree in geography
Kate Middleton also graduated on the same day with a 2:1 in Art History
The St Andrew’s University campus where Kate and William’s romance started
The dress was sold at auction to a private buyer for £78,000 in 2011, according to the Daily Mail
