The Queen Has Something To Say To William And Kate

It's Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton's 10th wedding anniversary, and Queen Elizabeth had a sweet message for the couple (via People). Queen Elizabeth posted congratulatory messages on the official Royal Family's Instagram and Twitter accounts, wishing them "a very happy wedding anniversary."

Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla, William's father and step-mother, wished William and Kate a happy anniversary in an Instagram story on their official Clarence House account (via People). Lately, William and Kate have been devoting time to charity work during the pandemic, per BBC. In December, they went on a three-day tour where they met and thanked frontline workers in London.

For their anniversary, Prince William and Kate Middleton released two new portraits on their official Kensington Palace Instagram account, as well as a touching video with their three children — Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. The caption on their video post said, "Thank you to everyone for the kind messages on our wedding anniversary. We are enormously grateful for the 10 years of support we have received in our lives as a family."

William and Kate's royal wedding was on April 29, 2011, and, according to The Guardian, roughly 18 million Britons watched their wedding live on TV. And throughout the decade they have been married, the pair have been advocates for issues surrounding mental health, and recently talked to London ambulance workers in March about mental health resources available to them (via BBC).

On the surface, it may seem like a royal and a commoner may not have much in common, but William and Kate were both art history majors at the time they met at St Andrews University (via Vogue). The two quickly became friends, eating breakfast together and sharing a love for skiing. Kate caught his attention when she participated in a charity fashion show at the school and walked down the ramp in lingerie.

William, Kate, and two of their friends all lived together the next year in an off-campus apartment. It was then that William started to woo Kate. "I was trying to cook these amazing fancy dinners," William said in an interview with ITN (via YouTube). He added, "[But] what would happen was I would burn something, something would overspill, something would catch on fire. She would be sitting in the background trying to help and basically taking control of the whole situation.

Within months, the two grew close together and started dating, per Vogue. According to Vanity Fair, Michael Middleton, Kate's father, told reporters in 2003, "We are very amused at the thought of being in-laws to Prince William, but I don't think that is going to happen." William and Kate's relationship flourished under the privacy of their bubble in university, according to Vogue. However, that is because the British news media promised to not cover William while he was studying.

Once the pair graduated, they faced the tabloids and their relationship almost didn't make it. They went on a break from their relationship in 2007, but got back together, with William proposing to Kate with a ring that belonged to his mother, Princess Diana, in October 2010. Middleton reflected on their time apart telling ITN, "At the time I wasn't very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person" (via YouTube). And a decade later, it seems like the couple are stronger than ever.