In The Crown season six, episode seven, a young Kate Middleton meets Prince William for the first time. He’s outside on a London street with his mother, Princess Diana, collecting holiday donations for the needy. Carole Middleton, played by Eve Best, gives her daughter a few pounds and pushes her to the front of the crowd. “What’s your name?” Princess Diana asks the preteen Kate. “Catherine,” her mother immediately responds. That night back in the suburbs, Kate cuts out pictures of William and hangs them on her bedroom walls.
The show then jumps forward a few years later. Prince William is at a press conference, announcing his decision to go to St. Andrews University in Scotland. “Not Edinburgh?” a reporter asks. “No,” he replies. “I considered it, but St. Andrews is closer to Balmoral.” Then, he shares he’s taking a gap year in Chile on a Raleigh International expedition. A captivated Carole Middleton watches him on the television at home.
As Prince William goes to take a seat during his first class at St. Andrews, the camera pans to a young woman sitting a few rows ahead of him: Meg Bellamy’s Kate Middleton.
The rest of the episode shows the two circling each other. Kate swims in the lane next to William at the pool. They jog by each other on campus; William asks his protection officer if she smiled at him. At the library, Kate has the books William needs. Yet they don’t immediately get together—in fact, both go on to date other students for the next few months.
When Bellamy’s Kate brings her boyfriend home, she picks up what she believes is a sense of disappointment from her mother. Kate confronts her: “You’ve always loved the idea of me and William together. I was all set to go to Edinburgh University straight after school with all my friends. Then you suggested I change it to St. Andrews after a gap year with none of my friends. That was no coincidence.” Carole replies: “You said you liked him!”
At the end of the day, The Crown is a piece of historical fiction. However, its plot points often closely follow real-life events. In the case of Prince William and Kate Middleton, how did the couple really meet, and was it as orchestrated as the show suggests? Or is the plot just television melodrama?
