Years before their lavish royal wedding, Prince William dumped Princess Catherine of Wales by phone before partying all night at a tiki bar, according to an excerpt from a new biography of Kate—casting doubt on the fairytale romance narrative the couple has spent years cultivating.
The new details were published by the Daily Mail as part of an excerpt for Robert Jobson’s upcoming biography of Kate, called Catherine, the Princess of Wales. In the clip, Jobson recounts how Will broke up with his future wife in 2007 after years of dating while the two attended St. Andrews University in Scotland.
<p>He told her they both needed ‘a bit of space’ to ‘find our own way,’ and he was unable to promise her marriage. In an emotionally charged 30-minute conversation, they both acknowledged they were on ‘different pages.’It was a devastating blow to Catherine, who felt doubly let down at being dumped over the phone. Though it wasn't the first time William had called time on their relationship, it felt final.In the wake of the break-up, doubts began to creep in. Had she been led on, she asked herself?</p>
Although Kate was reportedly crushed, William marked the occasion by celebrating at Mahiki, a Polynesian-themed nightclub in London’s tony Mayfair neighborhood.
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But tabloid photographers and gossip columnists continued to follow Kate’s every move after the breakup, ensuring the young prince would still see his ex “having fun and looking sensational,” according to Jobson.
The royal couple eventually reconciled at a costume party thrown by an amateur jockey. According to the biographer, the party’s theme was “Freakin Naughty,” and Kate arrived dressed as a nurse.
In an interview with People magazine last November, Kate admitted she “wasn’t very happy” about the breakup, but also claimed it made her a “stronger person.”
<p>‘I’m free!’ he shouted as he slipped into a drunken version of the robot dance. He then told his friends that they should all ‘drink the menu,’ which they more or less ended up doing.</p>
After the couple reconciled, Will was posted to RAF Valley on Anglesey, an island off the coast of Wales used by the Royal Air Force to train pilots. According to Jobson, Kate refused to be in a long-distance relationship with the prince, so she rented a farmhouse near the airbase where the couple lived in modest accommodations.
But Kate wasn’t the only person upset by Will’s career as a helicopter pilot. According to a separate excerpt published in Us Weekly, years after his training, Queen Elizabeth also confronted the prince for continuing to ferry his family around by helicopter. “She later cautioned William, particularly about flying with his heir Prince George, telling her grandson that he should always be aware of the line of succession,” Jobson wrote.