Millions of people across the globe tuned in to watch the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011. Scores of people lined the streets of London in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the royal couple, who met ten years prior to their wedding when they were both students at the University of St Andrews.
Although they officially met at university, there was plenty of opportunity for the now-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to meet prior to their days of studying and socialising in Scotland. Before starting university, both Kate and William joined the same challenge programme on their gap years, Raleigh International, but started a few weeks apart, MyLondon reports.
The challenge programme involved Kate and William getting stuck into trekking, as well as helping locals and building things for them in Chile - although one started a few weeks before the other. The expeditions were run by Malcolm Sutherland, who has called the coincidence 'absolutely crazy'.
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Speaking to royal biographer Katie Nicholl for her book, 'Kate: The Future Queen', Malcolm said: "For me, it was a normal assumption that everybody else would have realised what that connection was. I think a lot of people don't realise there is that common connection there in their pasts.
"William coped very well, and what struck me about him was how normal he was. He said he wanted to be treated like everyone else, and he was. When you saw him cleaning the toilets, it wasn't for the cameras, he really did clean the lavatories."
18-year-old Wills travelled the South American country for three months, during which time he worked on community projects with Raleigh International, the expedition organisation. Whilst out there, the young prince helped to build and decorate houses and playgrounds for communities, in addition to working on a dairy farm, and chopping and painting wood.
Although Kate would have followed a very similar programme during her time completing the expedition, the future Duchess of Cambridge spent part of her gap year studying at the British Institute in Florence and then crewing on Round the World challenge boats in the Solent. Part of William's gap year was far less glamorous and exciting than Kate's, with the second heir to the throne spending some time with the Welsh Guards in the Belizean jungle.
Ms Nicholl also wrote a book called 'William and Harry', where she claimed that William was put in a 'tough environment' during his gap year in South America. The biographer explained how the young prince 'was taught how to kill and prepare his food. An exercise code-named Native Trail began with instructors slaughtering a pig, hanging it from a pole and butchering it.'
Ms Nicholl added: "The soldiers, William included, were then given a live chicken to dispatch. They had to wring its neck and cut off its head and feet with a machete, pluck its feathers and gut it before cooking it over a fire, exactly as they would have to do if they were living off the land in a jungle war. They were shown how to make a termite stew – and then made to eat it."
When it came to the end of each day, William did not even get a proper night's sleep. Katie continued: "At night, William tried to snatch what little sleep he could in the rain in a hammock strung between two trees."
William did not just stay in South America, with the 18-year-old travelling to explore other parts of the world on his gap year, including Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and the Indian Ocean Island of Rodrigues. But his gap year is not the only time William may have met his future wife.
Ms Nicholl has also claimed that Kate and William could have met years prior to their year off, with William catching Kate's eye when their school hockey teams played a match against each other. William was nine years old when his school, Ludgrove Prep School, played a match against St Andrew's Prep - Kate's school.
The royal biographer penned: "Although she wasn't especially interested in boys, the arrival of one particular young man had caught her attention.
"Nearby Ludgrove Prep school would often play matches against St. Andrew's Prep, and there was much excitement when Prince William, a left back on Ludgrove's Colts team, came to St. Andrew's to play a hockey match when he was nine years old. William, like Kate, loved sports and was one of the best hockey and rugby players in his year. Of course, the arrival of the prince generated a flurry of excitement."
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