For many of us, going to university is a major step in our lives and the first step of independence, but for others, it can be a difficult time of life with feelings of homesickness.
And for the Prince of Wales, it was a difficult experience when he headed to St Andrews University in 2001 at the age of 19. In his new book, Battle of the Brothers, Robert Lacey wrote of William’s “nerves” as the then teenage royal arrived for his first term at the prestigious Scottish university.
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Colleen Harris, the former press secretary to King Charles, explained: “I think he was really nervous when he arrived. All the press were there – cameras from all over the world – and it suddenly hit him. He was very unsteady for a while after that.”
Another incident also unnerved the young Prince, when an overly amorous female admirer pinched him on the bottom while he enjoyed a drink.
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Robert also wrote about how things didn’t improve for William during his first term at St Andrews. “As the term progressed, the winter weather soon grew cold, grey and austere, and he found it difficult to make new friends,” he explained. “He missed his brother too.”
William’s dislike for his university life got to the extent that the royal would often leave the university town to visit London and Highgrove. During Christmas, he told his father that he intended to swap to the University of Edinburgh.
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However, Charles’ private secretary, Stephen Lamport, and a royal spin doctor feared that the move would see William labelled as a “quitter” and could be seen as a “snub by the Scottish people”.
Charles and William reportedly had a heart-to-heart, and while the royal changed his major, swapping from art history to geography, he returned to the University, staying there until his graduation in 2005.
On their heart-to-heart, William later said: “I don’t think I was homesick. I was more daunted. My father was very understanding about it and realised I had the same problem as he had probably had. We chatted a lot and in the end we both realised – I definitely realised – that I had to come back.”
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Meeting Catherine
Had William stepped away from St Andrews, then there’s every possibility that he would never have properly met his wife, Catherine Middleton.
The pair crossed paths during their studies at the university, with William reportedly seeing his future wife for the first time at a fashion show. However, the new book reveals the pair crossed paths a lot sooner, with Catherine saving William from a pushy student, with William joking she was his “girlfriend”.
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The pair’s former housemate, Laura Warshauer, previously told the Mail on Sunday about the pair’s instant chemistry and how they’d already fallen for each other before Catherine took to the runway for the charity gala.
“We went to a party at a castle. It was a Harry Potter theme and they did an auction for charity where people were bidding to win a date. Will bid £200 to win a date with Catherine,” she revealed.
Ms Warshauer couldn’t recall exactly what they did for their first date, but did note that Catherine was unfazed and effortlessly casual about the situation.
