Kate Middleton's Spicy Costume Party Outfit Had Prince William Crawling Back After Their Split

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While there are a slew of divorce rumors and rumblings of trouble in paradise for William and Catherine, Prince and Princess of Wales, the pair have staunchly shot down such speculation repeatedly. However, there was a time, long ago, when the lovebirds did call it quits.  Long before the pair tied the knot in April 2011, they spent the better part of a decade dating. But the duo hit a rough patch sometime in 2007, and temporarily went their separate ways. It turns out, it took a sexy costume and some sad boy begging to find reconciliation.

At the time, Prince Harry was finding it hard to spend a great deal of time with Kate Middleton, especially around the holidays. According to the book "Kate: A Biography" by Marcia Moody, the cracks in their romance were deepened when William was invited to ring in the new year with Kate's family on a vacation, but William ended up declining the invite. He routinely prioritized royal duties, and also spent a lot of time out partying. He even wound up in the papers when he was spotted flirting with another girl.

While many had been anticipating a royal proposal, the world instead saw the relationship collapse in early April 2007. It wasn't long before William realized exactly how badly he'd handled the situation. According to royal expert Katie Nicholl, in her book "Kate: The Future Queen," William quickly began trying to get back together, but Kate was hurt. Kate needed time and space, and she apparently needed to show William just what he was missing — and she found that in the form of a costume party.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, might be in line to be the queen of England in the future, but that doesn't mean she hasn't rocked some remarkably unqueenly outfits in her day. She's also never been afraid to show off her figure in some particularly leggy looks. So when it came time for Kate to prove to William, Prince of Wales, just how dumb he was to let her get away, she apparently really pulled out all the stops with a spicy costume that hooked William back in in a big way.

After their split in April 2007, Prince William had quickly tried to patch things up, and had invited Kate to several events and had asked to hang out numerous times, as royal expert Katie Nicholl wrote in her 2013 biography. "Kate didn't want to rush anything. She had been badly hurt and told William she needed some time," Nicholl wrote (via Harper's Bazaar). Apparently, William decided to extend another olive branch to Kate in June 2007 and invited her to a costume party, likely hoping to rekindle their flame.

According to Nicholl, Kate came to the party dressed as a "sexy" nurse, in an outfit complete with "fishnet tights and a short dress." Needless to say, it seemed to have the intended effect, and William reportedly "followed her around like a lost puppy all night." A few months later, Kate was spotted at a concert event honoring William's mother, the late Princess Diana, on the 10th anniversary of her tragic death, and news of their resparked romance spread like wildfire. Three years later, William popped the question, and the rest was royal history.