Prince William and Kate Middleton are celebrating thirteen years of marriage (Picture: PA)
Prince William and Kate Middleton are celebrating 13 happy years of marriage together.
The couple wed at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 after an eight-year relationship.
Since tying the knot, they have been focusing on their royal duties, having officially become Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as travelling the world together and supporting various good causes.
They’ve also had three children; Prince George, ten, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five.
Here’s a look back at the couple’s journey from loved-up university students to senior royals.
William and Kate first meet
University student Kate Middleton first caught the attention of Prince William, then 19, when she strode down the catwalk in a sheer dress for a charity fashion show.
In their first year of university in 2001, William and Kate lived a few doors apart at St Salvator’s hall of residence at St Andrews in Fife and became friendly, socialising together and playing tennis.
Kate watched on as William played polo for the Highgrove team at Cirencester Park Polo Club in July 2006 (Picture: PA)
They later moved into a house together with other flatmates in a secluded rented cottage outside the town.
They were rumoured to have become an item around Christmas 2003, after Kate split from another student she was dating, Rupert Finch.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watched the rugby as England played Italy in the RBS Six Nations Championship at Twickenham in 2007 (Picture: PA)
William said in his engagement interview: ‘When I first met Kate I knew there was something very special about her.’
Their relationship flourished during romantic weekends alone on the Queen’s Balmoral estate, at a cottage given to William and his younger brother Prince Harry.
William and Kate, pictured at a friends’ wedding in 2010, dated for eight years before getting married (Picture: PA)
But Kate stayed out of the limelight and didn’t attend high-profile royal events alongside her boyfriend.
In April 2007, the pair briefly split but were back together a few months later. Kate was a VIP guest in the royal box for William and Harry’s Concert for Diana in memory of their mother, and was seen canoodling with William at the after-show party.
A fairytale wedding
The couple announced their engagement at the State Apartments of St James’s Palace in November 2010 (Picture: PA)
William proposed to Kate during a romantic holiday to Kenya, when he smuggled his late mother’s sapphire and diamond engagement ring in his backpack to surprise his long-term girlfriend.
The couple tied the knot on April 29 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London.
Their grand wedding featured two dresses, two receptions, a carriage procession, flypasts and two kisses on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
The couple wed at Westminster Abbey 13 years ago today (Picture: Getty Images)
The wedding was watched by an estimated 2 billion people around the world.
The Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who married the couple, said of the day: ‘They didn’t seem unduly nervous. Yes, as it happens, a couple billion people were watching, but they were still talking to one another, from the centre, where it matters.’
A royal family
William and Kate launched into married life.
In the year after their wedding, the couple toured Singapore, Malaysia and Tuvalu together as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The newly married couple’s first trip abroad was to Canada and California in June 2011 (Picture: PA)
They received a warm welcome when visiting Tuvalu, Soloman Islands during a nine-day royal tour of the Far East and South Pacific in September 2012 (Picture: PA)
Then, in December 2012, they announced that Kate was pregnant with their first child.
Prince George was born on July 22 2013 at St Mary’s Hospital, London.
The couple’s first child, George, arrived in July 2013 (Picture: PA)
Just under two years later, on May 2 2015, the family welcomed their second child, Princess Charlotte.
And on 23 April 2018, Prince Louis was born.
Prince George joined the couple as they made their way to his sister Princess Charlotte’s christening at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham, Norfolk, in 2015 (Picture: PA)
The youngest child, Prince Louis, joined the family in April 2018 (Picture: Rex)
The family live in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor with their two English Cocker Spaniels, Lupo and Orla.
The whole family attended a special pantomime performance at London’s Palladium Theatre in 2021, to thank key workers and their families for their efforts throughout the pandemic (Picture: Getty)
They moved to the cosy rural cottage in 2022 so that the children could attend school at Lambrook.
Power couple in action
The Princess of Wales has now spent more than a decade as an HRH and she’s been described as a ‘model of what a future queen should be’ since joining the House of Windsor.
She has focused her charity work on early years’ support, children’s mental health, the visual arts and promoting the benefits of outdoor life.
The couple have taken numerous official visits together over their 13 years of marriage, balancing raising a family with their busy royal schedule.
They visited the famous Taj Mahal during a trip to India in 2016 (Picture: PA)
The couple’s relationship with William’s brother Harry has soured in recent years (Picture: PA)
They attempted to make pretzels during a tour of a traditional German market in the central square of Heidelberg, Germany, in 2017 (Picture: PA)
They hosted a Christmas party for families and children of deployed personnel from RAF Coningsby and RAF Marham at Kensington Palace in December 2018 (Picture: PA)
The family stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping The Colour, the Queen’s – and now King’s – annual birthday parade (Picture: Getty Images Europe)
The couple visited a settlement of the Kalash people in Chitral, Pakistan, in October 2019 (Picture: PA)
Kate was clearly more skilled than William at the grab-a-teddy game during a visit to Barry Island, South Wales, in August 2020 (Picture: PA)
The couple have endured a tough 2021, seen here attending the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh who died aged 99 (Picture: Rex)
The couple, seen here during a visit to the Cheesy Waffles Project at the Belmont Community Centre in Durham, have continued to work throughout the pandemic (Picture: PA)
The couple released an official photograph to mark their tenth wedding anniversary in 2021 (Picture: PA)
William and Kate at the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, on day two of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 (Picture: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire)
A new era
When King Charles II ascended the throne in 2022, William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The couple stepped out with Harry and Meghan after Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022 (Picture: AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
William and Kate were all smiles at the Royal Ascot horse race in 2023 (Picture: HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
The whole family attended the Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham last year (Picture: AP Photo/Kin Cheung, file)
The title of the Prince of Wales is reserved for the first in line for the throne, and will pass to Prince George when William becomes king.
The title doesn’t come with any specific duties, although William said he is learning Welsh as part of the new role.
MORE: William and Kate cuddle in loved-up pictures to mark 10th wedding anniversary
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