Prince William and Kate Middleton’s relationship wasn’t always a fairytale.
Robert Jobson’s new biography, “Catherine, The Princess of Wales,” reveals the circumstances behind when the royal couple — who are now married with three children — briefly broke up in 2007, three years before they got engaged.
According to the book, William, 42, and Kate, 42, were getting pretty serious as a couple at the time, with Kate even snagging an invite to William’s military graduation in December 2006.
However, Jobson wrote that “Catherine knew William wasn’t in any hurry to propose, and the truth is she was prepared to wait until he was ready. After all, they were in love — weren’t they?”
When William unexpectedly canceled their 2006 New Year’s Eve plans, Kate knew “something was wrong,” the book said.
Not long after, William called his then-girlfriend and broke up with her. He allegedly said they both needed “a bit of space” to “find our own way” and couldn’t promise a proposal.
“In an emotionally charged 30-minute conversation, they both acknowledged they were on ‘different pages,’ ” wrote Jobson. “It was a devastating blow to Catherine, who felt doubly let down at being dumped over the phone.”
After the split, William allegedly went out at Mahiki nightclub in London, while Kate traveled to Dublin with her mom, Carole Middleton, and Ibiza with a friend.
Kate “resolved to hide her pain from the outside world” despite being “distraught” about the breakup, Jobson said.
Eventually, William started having “second thoughts” and reunited with Kate at a “Freakin Naughty”-themed costume party thrown by jockey Sam Waley-Cohen.
Jobson wrote: “She’d arrived dressed as a nurse, and William had made a beeline for her. They then spent the first part of the evening deep in conversation before hitting the dance floor, where they ended up kissing.”
After reconciling in 2007, William and Kate got engaged in 2010 and tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011.
The Prince and Princess of Wales addressed their short breakup in an ITV interview when they were engaged.
“We both were very young, it was at university, we were sort of both finding ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff,” William said at the time. “It was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up, and so it was just sort of a bit of space and a bit of things like that and it worked out for the better.”
Kate added: “And I think I, at the time, wasn’t very happy about it, but actually, it made me a stronger person. You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized, or I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger, and I really valued that time for me as well although I didn’t think it at the time. Looking back on it.”
Now married for over a decade, William and Kate are proud parents to Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6.
Kate was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, forcing her to step away from her royal duties and focus on her health as William has taken on an extra workload.
But Kate’s health battle has actually done wonders for her and Williams’ marriage.
“They’ve been reconnecting and are closer than ever,” a source told Us Weekly last month.
When Kate revealed her cancer to the world in March, she described her husband as a “great source of comfort and reassurance.”
