The air was crisp with a hint of salt from the North Sea. Cobblestone streets wound their way through the sleepy seaside town of St Andrews,...
The air was crisp with a hint of salt from the North Sea. Cobblestone streets wound their way through the sleepy seaside town of St Andrews, where history whispered through the ancient walls of its famed university. But that night, inside the grand ballroom of the St Andrews Bay Hotel, something magical was about to happen—a student charity fashion show called “The Art of Seduction.”
The room was dimly lit. The runway wasn’t glamorous, just a narrow path of light cutting through rows of seated students. The models weren’t professionals—they were fellow classmates, volunteers for a good cause. The audience buzzed with anticipation, drinks in hand, laughter echoing softly under the chandeliers.
In the front row sat a tall young man with unmistakable features—blond hair, sharp eyes, and the kind of presence that made heads turn. Prince William, 19 years old, was still just a freshman studying geography at St Andrews. The future King of England was blending in as best he could. But tonight, he wasn’t here as a royal. He was here to watch a friend walk the runway.
That friend was Kate Middleton.
The room fell into a hush.
Kate glided down the catwalk in a sheer, black mesh dress that left little to the imagination. Underneath, she wore black underwear, confident yet composed. The spotlight caught the fabric just right—it shimmered like smoke. Elegant. Bold. Effortless.
To everyone else, she was a pretty girl in a daring outfit.
But to William, something shifted.
He leaned over to his friend Fergus Boyd and whispered words that would become legend:
“Wow, Kate’s hot.”
It wasn’t just a comment. It was a realization. A flicker. The moment when friendship caught fire and turned into something more.
The dress, reportedly costing only £30, was designed by student Charlotte Todd. Years later, she would reflect in disbelief:
“I never imagined that dress would play a part in royal history.”
The show had a lighthearted theme—seduction—but what no one expected was that it would genuinely seduce the heart of a future king. William had paid £200 for a front-row seat. That night, he got more than a view—he got a new perspective.
From that moment, he saw Kate not just as “one of the gang,” but as a woman who captivated him.
Up until then, William and Kate had been friends. They shared lectures in art history (before William switched majors), had lunch with the same group of students, and occasionally bumped into each other at university parties. Kate was known for her poise, her quiet confidence, and her genuine warmth.
But after the show, William’s behavior changed. Subtly at first.
He started showing up more often—whether it was breakfast at the dining hall, walks through campus, or movie nights with friends. He sought her out. He lingered a little longer in conversation. His smiles grew warmer, his questions more personal.
Kate, for her part, didn’t rush things. She remained composed. She wasn’t flirtatious or coy—just her usual self: grounded, kind, steady. That, more than anything, drew William in.
As whispers of their connection began to swirl through campus, close friends noticed the unmistakable spark. By the end of 2003, their friendship had quietly blossomed into a full-fledged romance.
But it all began—with one look, one walk, one sentence.
Years later, Prince William reflected on that time:
“I knew she was special from the beginning. But that night… something changed.”
Kate’s walk down that runway didn’t just turn heads—it turned fate.
On April 29, 2011, millions watched around the world as Kate Middleton walked down another aisle—this time, in a breathtaking Alexander McQueen gown, arm in arm with her father, to marry the man who had once whispered, “Wow, Kate’s hot.”
As she reached the altar of Westminster Abbey, William stood waiting—not just as a prince, but as a man who had fallen in love nearly a decade earlier, in a hotel ballroom lit by student dreams and a sheer dress that changed everything.
It’s funny how love begins.
Not with fanfare.
Not with crowns or cameras.
But with one simple, unfiltered moment of wonder.
And sometimes, all it takes…
is one look to start a forever.
In the breathlessly anticipated final six episodes of The Crown’s concluding season, there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments inspired by true events, but one of the most staggering involves a young Kate Middleton’s participation in a certain charity fashion show – one which, both in the Netflix series and reportedly in real life, changed the trajectory of her relationship with her future husband, Prince William. But, what actually happened at the event, and how does it compare to what we see on screen? Below, we separate the fact from the fiction.
What was Kate and William’s relationship like before the runway show?
Per The Crown’s retelling, the now Prince and Princess of Wales were interested in and attracted to each other from the outset, though their relationships with other people prevented them from being together. In episode nine, titled “Hope Street”, however, Ed McVey’s then single Prince William is told that Kate Middleton (Meg Bellamy), whom he’s been pining after, is now also single again – and not only that, but she’s also planning to model in a university fashion show whose tone is “risqué”. We then see Bellamy’s Kate telling her mother excitedly that she’s heard that William will be attending to watch her strut down the runway.
It seems that the reality, though, was rather different. According to accounts from the time, when that student charity fashion show, called “The Art of Seduction”, took place at the St Andrews Bay Hotel on 26 March 2002, both Kate and William were still dating other people and only saw each other as friends. Since meeting at university six months earlier, they’d reportedly gotten on well, and it’s believed that William relied on Kate’s advice when he was going through a difficult period personally, and debating whether or not to drop out of university.
This sequence plays out slightly differently on The Crown, where Kate sends William a text that reads, “Please don’t leave uni”, but it’s clear that the pair want to be more than just friends. In real life, by that spring, William had apparently already identified Kate as a potential flatmate for his second year house share. On the show, however, that conversation arises much later, once the couple are already dating.
What happened at the runway show?
In The Crown, we see Kate arriving at the show, spotting William in the audience, and then searching the rails for an outfit. Her pick? A showstopping sheer strapless dress with a blue trim. She then steps out onto the catwalk in it, basking in the spotlight and leaving William speechless.
In reality, the scene played out similarly, if not exactly, as depicted. Firstly, there’s the matter of the dress: the look we see on the show closely resembles Kate’s real-life ensemble, albeit with subtle differences when it comes to the materials and the pattern of the blue trim at the top. “We always have legal issues with things like that,” the show’s costume designer, Amy Roberts, recently explained to Vogue. “We didn’t get permission to copy it from the designer, which is fair enough, so we had to recreate it, and that’s a fine balance – we want people to know that’s that dress, but we don’t want to offend the designer. With that dress, the most important elements are the transparency and the strapless silhouette. We used different fabrics from the original and a different ribbon thread, but it was close enough for everyone to recognise it.”
And as for the question of whether or not Kate picked out the look for herself, as she does in the episode? It’s not clear if that was indeed the case, but Todd has said that it certainly wasn’t her decision to have Kate wear it. “I didn’t know who Kate Middleton was and I didn’t put her in it,” she told People. “It was just pure chance. I made it as a skirt, but others pulled it up on Kate and she wore it as a dress.” Make of that what you will.
What seems to be fairly accurate, however, is William’s reaction. By all accounts, he was blown away. Friends of the prince at the time recall that the event made him see Kate in a different light, and there’s a general consensus that it was a major turning point in their relationship and at least partly responsible for taking them from friends to something more. Two things that weren’t depicted in the show, though? William was believed to have paid £200 for a front row ticket, and there’s a long-standing rumour that he turned to one of his friends during the show and said the immortal words, “Wow, Kate’s hot.”
What happened at the after-party?
Shortly after The Crown’s runway scene, we see William and Kate at an after-party, where he tells her that she looked incredible. She then asks him if he’s really interested in her, he promises that he’s “always been interested, bordering on obsessed”, and they share a kiss which is quickly interrupted by William’s protection officer, who informs him that his great grandmother has passed away.
This is perhaps where the show deviates most dramatically from what really happened. Accounts of what played out at this particular after-party vary, though it’s generally agreed that William and Kate had a few drinks, after which he made his move. Some recall him simply giving her a kiss on the hand, while others say he leaned in for a proper kiss. However, as they were then seeing other people, Kate apparently rebuffed him. Within a few weeks, though, those relationships came to an end and the pair began dating some months later. Oh, and one thing we can say with absolute certainty? Their kiss was not cut short by news of the Queen Mother’s death – she passed away four days later, on 30 March 2002.
