Prince William and Kate Middleton recently made an appearance at Royal Ascot, where they were all smiles. However, rumors have been dogging the couple that there are issues in their marriage, spurred by the whispers of an extra-marital affair between William and his pretty neighbor Rose Hanbury.
Because of this, many royal fans are looking into the history of Kate and William’s love story, and one oft revisited aspect of their relationship is the infamous 2007 breakup. According to royal expert Andrew Morton, William initiated the split because he thought he could do “better,” per The Express .
“In April, much to Kate’s distress, William ended their relationship,” Morton wrote in his 2011 book William and Catherine.
“It was a storm that had been brewing a long time, arising from his unwillingness to commit and the feeling his friends noted that ‘he could do better.’”
However, Morton added that William started to reevaluate after he saw that Kate was thriving despite the breakup. It was reported that he found it particularly irksome that she was seen leaving nightclubs like Boujis, looking so happy and carefree.
“He thought he could do better, but realized very quickly what he had given up,” Morton concluded.
The royal expert also added that William sorely missed the close-knit family that the Middletons had provided for him, and realized that he was ready to create that kind of environment for himself and his future.
However, Morton added that while William was ready to get back together, Kate’s friends were happy the pair had separated and were hoping that they would remain apart.
“The prevailing reaction for most of them was: ‘Thank goodness that’s over!’”
“For years they had watched helplessly as Kate, whose university dissertation had been on Lewis Carroll, had gradually disappeared down the royal rabbit hole into the Windsor wonderland, leaving her friends out in the cold,” Morton wrote.
In fact, he added that many of Kate’s friends had felt “upset” that she put in little effort to see them throughout her relationship, as her focus had always been on William.
However, the pair nonetheless reunited and got engaged in 2010 while on holiday in Kenya. Their marriage in the spring of 2011 was watched by millions around the world. Since then, William and Kate started to raise three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and little Prince Louis.
Moreover, though William might have one time thought he could do better, the British public certainly disagree: Kate is the second most popular royal in the family, only behind the Queen, per Cheat Sheet .
