Kate Middleton attends the Cheltenham Festival in Gloucestershire, western England in this March 16, 2007 file photograph.EDDIE KEOGH
Facts about Kate Middleton
- The eldest of three children, Catherine Middleton was born on Jan. 9, 1982, into a middle-class, rather than aristocratic, family from Berkshire, west of London.
- Her father Michael worked as a pilot and her mother Carole as an airline stewardess before setting up a mail order business selling party supplies.
- She met Prince William at St Andrews University in Scotland in 2001, where she read history of art. The pair lived together in a house shared with friends.
- They split up in 2007 after Prince William was posted around the country as part of his military training, according to media reports. Since getting back together later that year, there has been persistent talk about a possible engagement.
- Critics in the tabloid press nicknamed Ms. Middleton "Waity Katie" after a marriage date failed to materialize and accused her of doing little with her life beyond waiting for William to pop the question.
- Ms. Middleton's lawyers complained to Britain's press watchdog in 2007 after photographers and TV film crews mobbed her outside her London flat, drawing comparisons with the media's obsession with Prince William's mother, the late Princess Diana - who died in a Paris car crash while being pursued by paparazzi.
Facts about Prince William
- Prince William is second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles.
- Born William Arthur Philip Louis on June 21, 1982 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, west London, he is the elder son of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.
- After attending Mrs. Mynors School, Prince William became a pupil at Wetherby School in London, until 1990 and then Ludgrove School in Berkshire, until 1995. He then attended Eton College. Prince William studied at St Andrews University in Scotland and graduated in Geography in 2005.
- Prince William was 15 when Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in Paris at the end of August 1997. Prince William and his younger brother Prince Harry walked behind their mother's cortege at her funeral procession in London.
- Prince William joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an Officer Cadet and was commissioned as an army officer in front of the Queen at Sandhurst in December 2006 and joined the Household Cavalry (Blues and Royals) as a Second Lieutenant.
- Prince William graduated as a search and rescue Pilot with the Royal Air Force in Sept. 2010.
Sources: Reuters archive, BBC