Middleton and Prince William are expecting their first child.
Agencies:
Nineteen months ago she married Prince William, second in line to
the British throne, in a wedding watch by tens of millions around the world.
Now
months of speculation has ended with the palace's announcement that Catherine
Middleton and Prince William are expecting their first child.
The woman now carrying
the next in line to the throne after William is the daughter of self-made
millionaires from rural England
Kate
Middleton, 30, grew up in a small village of thatched cottages in Bucklebury,
around 45 miles west of London
One
of three children, Middleton completed her schooling as a boarder at the
prestigious Marlborough College before taking a degree in History of Art at
St. Andrew's University in Fife ,
Scotland
It
was there that she met Prince William, the 19-year-old son of Prince Charles,
the heir to the British throne, and Princess Diana.
Both
were studying art history when they met, but Middleton is said to have played a
key role in encouraging the prince to switch to a degree in Geography in his
second year.
The
students grew closer after moving into a shared house with two other friends
and were said to have started dating in late 2003.
Their
status as a couple was made public in March 2004 when they were photographed
holidaying together in the Swiss ski resort of Klosters.
That
first photo marked the beginning of Middleton's fraught relationship with the
British tabloid press. Her lawyers filed their first complaints about media
intrusion in 2005.
Such
was the level of media interest in the girl "who could be Queen" that
in 2007, the Guardian newspaper reported that Middleton, "ran the gauntlet
of more than 20 press photographers and five television crew as she emerged
from her flat."
It
was her birthday and rumors had spread that the prince would mark the day with
a proposal.
The
incident was quoted during a UK
parliamentary inquiry into the self-regulation of the press and the efficacy of
Britain
In
his testimony, The Sun newspaper's royal photographer Arthur Edwards described Middleton's
frequent run-ins with the paparazzi.
"She
has been stopped at traffic lights, where they climb off their motorbikes and
start photographing her. She has been out shopping in stores and they run into
the stores after her. She uses public transport a lot -- or she did -- but they
climb on the buses and the bus driver is having to throw them off," he
said.
The
proposal never came and one month later, "Kate and Will" were back in
headlines as it emerged that their four-year relationship was over.
The
split was said to be amicable with the couple determined to remain friends.
At
the time, photographer Arthur Edwards told CNN that the couple's ages and
constant media attention took their toll.
"William
has said 28 is a good time to get married -- 28 to 30. Now, that's a few years
off yet and I don't think she wants to put up with that for the next four or
five years, every morning coming out of her house going to her office having
those problems, and I think she just thinks enough's enough," he said.
Royal
commentators speculated that the split was due to the class divide between the
prince and his middle-class girlfriend. Middleton's mother is a former air
stewardess and her father worked as a pilot before they set up their own
business. Kate is the eldest of their three children.
Despite
conjecture over the cause of their split, the pair remained close. In July
2007, Middleton sat in the royal box at Wembley Stadium in London
The
two were seen together several times over the summer and were dating again by
the end of 2007.
Around
the same time, Middleton resigned from women's fashion chain Jigsaw, where she
started working as an accessories buyer after graduating from university in
2005.
On
April 29, 2011, Middleton married Prince William in a televised ceremony at
Westminster Abbey in
In
January 2012, Middleton announced the four charities she will support as a
patron: the Art Room, which helps disadvantaged children express themselves
through art; the National Portrait Gallery, which houses a famous collection of
royal paintings and photographs; East Anglia's Children's Hospices, which helps
children with life-threatening conditions; and Action on Addiction, which
assists those with addiction issues.
Prince
William and Catherine's child will be next in line to the throne after William
regardless of whether it is a boy or a girl, the British Cabinet Office said
Monday, as planned changes to the law of succession that end the tradition of a
boy jumping over an elder sister are already de facto in effect.
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