Prince William Bid $250 to Win Date With Kate Middleton

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s love story follows an awe-inspiring trajectory that feels like it was written in a fairly tale: After meeting and falling in love while enrolled at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Kate lived out every little girls’ fantasy of marrying a prince and becoming royalty. Throughout the duration of their dating lives and 13-year marriage, more private details about their union have emerged, giving the public a closer, more in-depth look at the evolution of their relationship. In one recent revelation, Kate’s former college roommate Laura Warshauer told The Daily Mail on January 4, 2025, that the Prince and Princess of Wales’ romantic connection began earlier than we thought.

According to Warshauer, while attending a Hogwarts-inspired charity auction in 2002, Prince William paid £200 (equivalent to $250) to win a date with Kate. “We went to a party at a castle,” Warshauer recounted. “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 Kate.” While Warshauer admitted that her memory of the situation is a bit hazy, she remembered that Kate was calm and collected and that the two had “instant chemistry.”

Kate and William first met as undergraduate students at the University of St. Andrews in 2001. At the time of their first encounter, Kate was shy—she later recalled in her engagement interview in 2010—and their relationship began platonically. For their second year of college, the two moved in together as friends, along with a few others, which helped their connection evolve. “We lived with a couple of others, as well, and it just sort of blossomed from there, really,” William said in the engagement interview. “We just saw more of each other, hung out a bit, and did stuff.”

After a semester of being friends, rumor has it that their friendship turned romantic when Kate was modeling a see-through getup at a student fashion show at which William paid over $200 to score a front-row seat. In 2002, Kate walked down the runway in a sheer strapless dress with turquoise panels (which was originally supposed to be a skirt) that student designer Charlotte Todd created, and William allegedly turned to a friend who was seated next to him and said, “Wow.” That single word changed everything for them. “Everyone says that the fashion show was when the romance started, so a small part of me will always be part of royal history,” Todd told People.

While they started dating in secret, William was forced to confirm his romance with Kate during a game of “Never Have I Ever.” According to Robert Jobson’s book, Catherine, The Princess of Wales: The Biography, most of the student body had an inkling that the two were an item, but one of William’s ex-girlfriends, Carly Massy-Birch, seemingly wanted William to verbally confirm the rumors. When it was her turn during the college drinking game, Massy-Birch targeted William by saying, “I’ve never dated two people in this room,” according to The Making of a Royal Romance by Katie Nicholl, who added that William turned to her “in shock” and whispered, “I can’t believe you just said that.” It was the first time William publicly addressed his relationship with Kate.