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Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge have been happily married since 2011. The pair are now the main faces of the British royal family and they share three adorable children together. However, their relationship hasn’t exactly been a whirlwind or fairytale romance.

The Cambridges met back in 2001 as first-year students at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. Though they began their relationship as friends, it quickly blossomed into something more. However, because they were so young and due to the princes’ life-long royal status they had their ups and downs.

In fact, a major part of their uses in the early years of their relationship which began nearly a decade before they wed, was the prince’s wandering eye.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2004 breakup was due to his ‘friendship’ with another woman

Though the Duchess of Cambridge got romantically involved with Prince William in 2001, their relationship wasn’t exactly out in the open. In an effort to protect their privacy they kept things under wraps. This allowed Prince William to keep his now-wife at an arm’s length while getting friendly with other women.

By 2003, he’d become close friends with the American heiress, Anna Salon. The pair bonded due to the tragic loss of a parent. “When Anna invited William and a group of friends to Texas for a holiday before he went to Greece, it hurt Kate deeply,” royal expert Katie Nicholl wrote in her book, William and Harry. “She suspected William might have feelings for the 22-year-old heiress.”

In the end, the duo decided to take a break. “Kate was beginning to question William’s commitment to their relationship, and she also had her own creeping doubts about their future after St Andrew’s,” Nicholl added.

Kate Middleton and Prince William broke up in 2007 after the prince was caught partying with other women

The royal couple’s initial breakup only last a couple of months and though they were long-distance following St. Andrew’s with Kate in London and the prince at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, England they tried to make it work.

Unfortunately, the distance and the commitment began weighing on the prince. There was also the added pressure that Kate and Prince William’s relationship was very public by then. A number of things including Prince William skipping out on Christmas with the Middletons and dropping the ball on Kate’s 25th birthday the following January began to crack the foundation of the relationship.

However, Kate pulled the plug on the romance in April 2007 when Prince William was photographed at Elements nightclub in Bournemouth touching a half-naked girl inappropriately.

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Kate Middleton has always known about Prince William’s wandering eye

Prince William was caught up in what turned out to be unfounded cheating rumors as recently as 2019, and it would seem at this point the duchess is used to it.

“He has always had a roving eye…that’s something Kate had always known and accepted – it was part of the deal if you like,” a friend of the prince told royal commentator Victoria Arbiter in the documentary, William & Kate: Too Good to Be True.

We’re just glad the prince has seemingly matured since his younger days.

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