The story of Kate Middleton and Prince William's romance is a familiar one: Prince heads to college, meets a beautiful commoner and the rest is history. But the ins and outs of their early relationship are a bit more complicated than that—and apparently involve a game of Never Have I Ever.
Chances are, you've taken part in the classic drinking game in a fraternity house or someone's parents' basement over the years. But in case you haven't, it goes like this: Someone states a fact, like "Never have I ever kissed someone in this room," and if you've done the deed, you need to take a sip of your drink. If you haven't, you abstain from drinking.
It turns out Kate Middleton and Prince William had some sips to take during an early 2000s round of the game at the University of St. Andrews, according to the new book Catherine, the Princess of Wales: A Biography of the Future Queen by Robert Jobson (via the Daily Mail).
As the story goes, Carly Massy-Birch, who once dated the prince, said, "'I've never dated two people in this room,' knowing full well that William was the only one who had because Kate was sitting next to him."
Of course, both William and Kate would've had to drink, per the game's rules, revealing their relationship to the room. According to the book, William shot Massy-Birch a "thunderous look," adding, "I can't believe you just said that."
However, Jobson—who notes that Katie Nicholl first revealed the party game story in her own biography of Middleton—said that the couple's relationship was already "an open secret" in their university community.
The couple met in 2001 as friends, moving into a townhouse with two other students a year later. Then Kate's infamous sheer runway moment happened (remember that fashion show on The Crown?) and soon enough the pair were dating.
“She was in a very daring dress, in a sheer, stocking-like dress,” the prince's friend Pat Duncan told E! News in 2011. “He was sitting front row, and his eyes were like stalks.”
Surprisingly, William and Kate were able to keep their relationship a secret until 2004 when vacation photos of the couple were published in the Sun. But while the world found out via a newspaper, it seems like the St. Andrews community found out in a slightly cheekier way.
