We've watched the friends-to-lovers story unfold on screen, with Jim and Pam, Harry and Sally, and more, all capturing our hearts, but in real-life, it's the Prince and Princess of Wales' friendship turned-romance that might very well take the crown. It's a love story that feels straight out of a Hollywood movie and one, perhaps, Kate Beckinsale's character from the rom-com Serendipity would agree was guided by fate.
Before heading to university, Prince William and Catherine (née Middleton) each undertook gap years during which they participated in Raleigh International in Chile. Despite them both heading to South America, it wouldn't be until the two of them were back in the United Kingdom at St Andrews University that they would finally meet. The future King and his future wife began their studies in 2001 at the university in Scotland.
"I actually think I went bright red when I met you and sort of scuttled off, feeling very shy about meeting you," Catherine recalled to William in their 2010 engagement interview, revealing that the Prince wasn't there for Freshers' Week. "So it did take a bit of time for us to get to know each other, but we did become very close friends from quite early."
The heir to the throne has previously shared that he and Catherine "were friends for over a year at first," and their relationship "sort of blossomed from then on."
"We just spent more time with each other, had a good giggle, had lots of fun and realized we shared the same interests and just had a really good time," the Prince shared.
Though it took time, William admittedly "knew there was something very special about" Catherine when he first met her.
"I knew there was possibly something that I wanted to explore there," the Prince said. "But we ended up being friends for a while and that just sort of was a good sort of foundation because I do generally believe, now especially, that you know being friends with one another is a massive advantage, and it just went from there. And over the years I knew things were getting better and better and we went through a few stumbling blocks, as every relationship does, but we picked ourselves up and carried on."
"From where you have the odd problem when you are first getting to know each other, those have all gone and it's just really easy being with each other and it's really fun," he continued, before joking: "I'm obviously extremely funny and she loves that, so it's been good."
© Indigo/Getty ImagesIt was reported in 2002 that William would be moving into a flat with three friends, one of which was Catherine, whose friendship with the Prince was already known after he paid for a VIP seat at a charity fashion show that she famously modeled in. However, their romance wasn't made public until April 2004 when they were photographed on a ski holiday in Switzerland.
While their love story feels straight out of a storybook, it wasn't all fairy tale. The couple briefly split before finding their way back to each other. "We did split up for a bit, but that was just, you know, we were both very young. It was at university and we were both finding ourselves as such and being, different characters and stuff," William explained. "It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up and so it was just a bit of space and a bit of things like that. And it soon worked out for the better."
© Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesCatherine added: "And I think I at the time I wasn't very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person. You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized or I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you're younger and you know I really valued that time for me as well. Although I didn't think it at the time, looking back on it."
It's a relationship that grew steadily, before taking the next step in October of 2010. It was then, on a private holiday in Kenya, that William got down on one knee and proposed to his college sweetheart with his late mother's engagement ring. "It was very romantic," Catherine revealed the following month in their engagement interview. "There's a true romantic in there."
© Rota/Anwar Hussein/Getty ImagesThen, on April 29, 2011, nearly a decade after they both arrived at the same university, William married Catherine Middleton at London's Westminster Abbey in a wedding watched by millions. The Prince reportedly called his new wife his "rock" in an emotional speech at their evening reception.
© Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty ImagesThe pair have since gone on to become parents of three, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, balancing family life with royal duties and navigating life's highs and lows, including Catherine's chemotherapy treatment. Long before those "incredibly tough" nine months in 2024, the Princess of Wales is quoted as once saying: "Over the years William has looked after me, he's treated me very well – as the loving boyfriend he is, he is very supportive of me through the good times and also through the bad times." That same devotion has clearly carried into their marriage.
William's late grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were married for 73 years until the Duke's death. In the 2016 documentary Elizabeth at 90: A Family Tribute, William remarked, "I hope Catherine and I have the same sort of future ahead of us where we can be as happily married as they are for 68 years."
This Valentine's Day, let Prince William and Catherine serve as a reminder that some of the best love stories take time...and start out as friendships, just like a classic rom-com.
