Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton’s relationship hasn’t always been a fairy tale due to family drama, speculative rumors and more.

William and Kate met in 2001 when they were both students at the University of St Andrews. Despite a brief breakup six years later, William and Kate reconciled before getting engaged in 2010. They wed one year later before welcoming three kids together: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

They soon faced a bevy of rumored challenges like claims that William had an extramarital affair.

“Kate finds the rumors hurtful, obviously, and hates the thought that one day her children will be able to read about them online,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2019. “It forced her and William to sit back and examine their relationship, which they realized they should have been doing more often.”

Biggest Royal Family Scandals Through the Years

The couple, who fervently denied the accusations, continued to weather challenging times. In January 2024, Kate underwent a “planned abdominal surgery” and recovered privately at home without being seen by the public for two months.

Kate’s first public remarks, an Instagram message shared on the U.K.’s Mother’s Day that March, were met with backlash and conspiracy theories about her whereabouts due to Photoshop concerns. A second source told Us that the idea was for Kate to “thank members of the public for all the support and at the same time put some of those ridiculous conspiracy rumors to rest.”

Keep scrolling for more of William and Kate’s most controversial moments through the years:

Harry Blames William and Kate for Controversial Costume Choice
In 2005, William’s brother, Prince Harry, caught flak for wearing a Nazi costume to a Halloween party. Years later, he alleged that it was actually William and Kate who picked out the outfit.

“I went up and down the rows, sifting through the racks, seeing nothing I liked. With time running out I narrowed my options to two. A British pilot’s uniform. And a sand-colored Nazi uniform. With a swastika armband. And a flat cap,” Harry wrote in his January 2023 memoir, Spare. “I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. I rented it, plus a silly mustache, and went back to the house. I tried it all on. They both howled.”

Neither William nor Kate addressed Harry’s claims at the time.

A Postgraduate Breakup
While William and Kate dated throughout their collegiate tenure, they took their time to get engaged, causing the press to mock Kate, dubbing her “Waity Katie.” They also briefly split in 2007.

“At the time I wasn’t very happy about it, but it actually made me a stronger person,” Kate recalled during a November 2010 interview. “You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized. 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.”