IT’S nearly been 10 years since Prince William tied the knot with Kate Middleton in their fairytale wedding watched by millions.
The pair met at university and quickly became inseparable, but William wasn’t Kate’s first boyfriend…
Did Kate Middleton have a boyfriend before Prince William?
They might be married with three adorable children now, but once upon a time Kate and William were just friends.
Speaking on the latest episode of 9Honey’s The Windsors podcast, royal expert Victoria Arbiter revealed Kate was dating a man named Rupert Finch at the University of St Andrews – where she and Wills met.
“Kate actually had another boyfriend when she first got to St Andrews, Rupert Finch, who by all accounts was a nice man,” said Arbiter.
“Rupert was ahead of Kate in terms of school, he left university in 2002.
“Prince William, he kind of expressed a bit of interest but I think Kate was still playing hard to get. She wasn’t terribly sure if she was interested.”
Kate’s relationship with lawyer Rupert was only short term and it seems there were no hard feelings when the pair parted ways.
He and his then-girlfriend Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs were invited to the Royal Wedding in 2011 and Kate and Wills were both at Rupert and Natasha’s nuptials in 2013.
Who else did Kate date before marrying William?
Willem Marx
Kate reportedly had a fling with Willem at her prestigious Wiltshire boarding school, Marlborough.
Although nothing came of it, they remained good friends, and were seen leaving Boujis nightclub in South Kensington in 2007.
Willem, who studied Classics at Oxford University and has been a correspondent for CBS News, was invited to the royal wedding in 2011.
He now has a son with his beautiful Italian television presenter wife, Johanna Botta.
Henry Roper
There was a brief split in Prince William and Kate Middleton’s relationship in 2007.
During this time it was rumoured that she was dating Henry Ropner, who was on hand to cheer her up.
Henry is the son of baronet Sir John Ropner and the family own a £33.7 million shipping management firm.
He is now married to businessman’s daughter Natasha Sinclair.
We shared how Prince William ‘hurt Kate deeply’ by secretly visiting ‘exquisite-looking’ socialite Isabella Calthorpe in the summer of 2004 as he lived the single life.
And Prince William ‘snubbed’ Kate Middleton at his 21st birthday as he was ‘preoccupied with another woman’, royal author claims.
