For literally years, Netflix has teased that The Crown‘s final season will delve into the “fairy-tale love story” of Prince William (Ed McVey) and Kate Middleton (Meg Bellamy). The current Prince and Princess of Wales famously met as college co-eds at St. Andrews, became roommates, fell in love, and then were on and off until marrying in 2011. Today, they share three adorable children and the Duchy of Cornwall. So how does Netflix’s The Crown depict their iconic love story? With a hint of stalking and an exploration of Carole Middleton’s (Eve Best) match-making machinations!
**Spoilers for The Crown Season 6 Part 2, now streaming on Netflix**
Royal gossip nerds have speculated for decades that Kate Middleton’s mother specifically maneuvered her pretty daughter into the orbit of England’s most eligible bachelor in a generation. Royal biographers had previously revealed that Carole encouraged Kate to attend St. Andrews University and take a gap year when it was announced Prince William would do the same. In his recent book, Endgame, Omid Scobie doubled down on assertions that Carole Middleton “calculatingly placed Kate right at the center of young Prince William’s world.”
Rather than shy away from these rumors, The Crown Season 6 Part 2 leans hard into them. After seeing Carole encourage a very young Kate to introduce herself to the school-aged William and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), we later see just how much Kate has done in her short life to shadow William. She “conveniently” did the same abroad programs as William ahead of matriculating into the same college courses. The series even goes so far as to dramatize a tense argument between mother and daughter about Carole’s plan to unite her daughter and Prince William in eventual matrimony.
Is The Crown correct? Did Carole Middleton really plot to wed Kate to the future King of England? And how does The Crown depict Kate Middleton and Prince William’s romance?
Kate Middleton is introduced as a 15-year-old (Ella Bright) in the cold open of The Crown Season 6 Episode 7 “Alma Mater.” She and Carole are Christmas shopping in London — with Carole trying to convince Kate to opt for a glittery dress to show off her figure “which the boys will love” — when they see Princess Diana and the younger Prince William (Rufus Kampa) selling copies of The Big Issue* for charity. Carole and Kate immediately snap into action, with Kate insisting that her mother offer more than a single pound. It’s a gesture that gets Diana’s attention, leading to an introduction. Later, at home, Carole finds Kate making a Prince William collage and gives her daughter a pep talk on aiming high. “Never think there’s anything in this world you’re not good enough for. This is probably not how Prince William and Kate Middleton first met, but what the hey ho! Drama!
The rest of the episode depicts how Carole Middleton followed Prince William’s college plans closely. So closely that she makes Kate copy them. Once they’re both at school, The Crown at least allows Prince William’s attraction for Kate be organic. He notices the pretty brunette in the same art history courses, walking around campus, and jogging past him. When he finally gets the nerve to chat her up in the library, his jealous girlfriend begins to point out all the miraculous things he and Kate have in common. William, unused to being pressed, shows an ugly, angry side of himself that turns Kate off. When the royal picks Balmoral over a party weekend, he misses out on taking his shot. By Christmas break, Kate is dating a perfectly nice upper crust boy and a dejected William is considering quitting university.
It’s towards the end of the episode that The Crown addresses the elephant in the room. Carole Middleton’s ambitions for her daughter. After a perfectly nice holiday meal with aforementioned perfect nice boy, Carole confronts Kate about her relationship. Kate then turns the tables, pointing out Carole’s meticulous planning. Carole’s defense is it wasn’t for “any sinister reason,” before acquiescing that Kate can date “Finchie” if that what she really wants. But then Carole drops her coup de grace, sharing the goss that William is miserable and considering leaving St. Andrews. A terrified Kate later sends him a text asking him to stay.
Later on in The Crown Season 6, we watch as Kate takes matters into her own hands. When William learns that Kate is single and walking in a charity fashion show, he makes a point to show up. Kate makes a point to swap out her demure look for a see-through skirt she fashions into a dress. The result? A now famous honey pot moment that reportedly kicked off their romantic relationship.
The Crown imagines a scene straight after where Kate admits she did it to finally force William to make a move. William then has to attend his great-grandmother’s funeral, but by reconnecting with family, offers Queen Elizabeth II the chance to encourage him to live off-campus with Kate and two other friends. The show and Queen Elizabeth II compare this idyllic time to the early days of her marriage to Prince Philip.
Kate Middleton doesn’t show up much in the final episode of The Crown, but she does appear in the sequence that culminates in Prince Harry’s (Luther Ford) infamous Nazi party costume. While the younger royals and friends look for their costumes at a store, Harry points out a wedding dress to Kate, remarking that of course she’s thought about it. The implication is that Prince Harry sees Kate’s ultimate goal as marrying his brother. Ultimately, Kate dresses as a lion tamer, complete with a whip. The beast in her thrall? Prince William in a lion costume.
The Crown doesn’t depict Kate Middleton and her mother’s schemes as “sinister,” but it doesn’t try to sidestep the fact that, yes, there is significant evidence that choices were made to strategically put Kate in William’s path. That’s all true, even if the Big Issue scene probably isn’t.
*The Big Issue is a magazine given to unhoused people in the UK to sell for change. Celebs, like Diana, also sell them, with the money going back to the charity.