Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Biggest Controversies Through the Years
Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton’s relationship hasn’t always been a fairy tale due to family drama, speculative rumors and more.
William and Kate met in 2001 when they were both students at the University of St Andrews. Despite a brief breakup six years later, William and Kate reconciled before getting engaged in 2010. They wed one year later before welcoming three kids together: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
They soon faced a bevy of rumored challenges like claims that William had an extramarital affair.
"Kate finds the rumors hurtful, obviously, and hates the thought that one day her children will be able to read about them online,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2019. “It forced her and William to sit back and examine their relationship, which they realized they should have been doing more often.”
Royal Family Scandals Through the Years: Love Triangles, Step Downs and More
The couple, who fervently denied the accusations, continued to weather challenging times. In January 2024, Kate underwent a “planned abdominal surgery” and recovered privately at home without being seen by the public for two months.
Kate’s first public remarks, an Instagram message shared on the U.K.’s Mother’s Day that March, were met with backlash and conspiracy theories about her whereabouts due to Photoshop concerns. A second source told Us that the idea was for Kate to “thank members of the public for all the support and at the same time put some of those ridiculous conspiracy rumors to rest.”
Keep scrolling for more of William and Kate’s most controversial moments through the years:
Harry Blames William and Kate for Controversial Costume Choice
In 2005, William’s brother, Prince Harry, caught flak for wearing a Nazi costume to a Halloween party. Years later, he alleged that it was actually William and Kate who picked out the outfit.
“I went up and down the rows, sifting through the racks, seeing nothing I liked. With time running out I narrowed my options to two. A British pilot’s uniform. And a sand-colored Nazi uniform. With a swastika armband. And a flat cap,” Harry wrote in his January 2023 memoir, Spare. “I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. I rented it, plus a silly mustache, and went back to the house. I tried it all on. They both howled.”
Neither William nor Kate addressed Harry’s claims at the time.
A Postgraduate Breakup
While William and Kate dated throughout their collegiate tenure, they took their time to get engaged, causing the press to mock Kate, dubbing her “Waity Katie.” They also briefly split in 2007.
“At the time I wasn’t very happy about it, but it actually made me a stronger person,” Kate recalled during a November 2010 interview. “You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized. I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger, and I really valued that time for me as well although I didn’t think it at the time.”
The twosome ultimately reconciled one year later.
Prince William and Princess Kate’s Relationship Timeline
Meghan’s Wedding Day Tears Over Kate Drama
Leading up to Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle, rumors swirled that the Suits alum and Kate were at odds. When the story broke, Meghan was accused of making Kate cry. Meghan later claimed it was the other way around.
“A short time later I arrived home and found Meg on the floor. Sobbing,” Harry wrote in Spare. “I was horrified to see [Meghan] so upset, but I didn’t think it was a catastrophe. … Indeed the next morning Kate came by with flowers and a card that said she was sorry.”
While Harry didn't think that Kate meant to make his wife upset, he did speculate that the princess felt “forced to compete” with Meghan.
The Brotherly Rift
William and Harry, the two sons of King Charles III and late ex-wife Princess Diana, were close growing up and even launched a joint foundation together. Their bond dissipated by February 2019 when news broke that they decided to formally separate their royal households.
Harry and Meghan, decided to step down from their duties as senior royals one year later in 2020 and relocated to California. The move sparked an estrangement with William and Kate.
Harry further documented the siblings’ feud in Spare, claiming that William tore his necklace during a physical fight.
“What was different here was this level of frustration, and I talk about the ‘red mist’ that I had for so many years — and I saw this ‘red mist’ in him,” Harry said in a January 2023 ITV interview. “He wanted me to hit him back, but I chose not to.”
William did not publicly address the alleged altercation.
Facing Infidelity Rumors
In 2019, William was accused of having an affair with Rose Hanbury, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley. Hanbury has been a close friend of William and Kate for years, even attending their 2011 wedding and the 2021 funeral of the late Prince Philip. Hanbury’s son, Oliver, later served as one of the pages of honor at Charles’ coronation in May 2023.
William, Kate and Hanbury — who is married to David Cholmondeley — have never addressed the rumors.
“It’s not unusual to have a few hiccups in a marriage, especially after eight years, and Kate and William are no different,” a source told Us in 2019. “They’re still going strong. Regardless of their ups and downs, they love each other dearly and their kids are the most important thing in their lives.”
Racism Accusations
In Harry and Meghan’s bombshell 2021 interview, they alleged that two members of the royal family questioned the color of their son Prince Archie’s skin tone before his birth. (Harry and Meghan also share daughter Princess Lilibet.)
While Harry and Meghan opted against naming which relatives allegedly inquired about Archie, rumors swirled that it was Kate. According to a Dutch version of royal expert Omid Scobie’s 2023 book Endgame, Kate was named as one such relative.
“Kate was 100 percent not one of the people who discussed it,” a source told Us in December 2023. “She is saddened that her name got pulled into this because she had nothing to do with it.
Holiday Card Editing Drama
When William and Kate dropped their annual holiday card in December 2023, rumors swirled that it was heavily edited because it appeared that one of Louis’ fingers had been removed and an extra leg was added.
A source later told Us that the couple was “embarrassed” by the crowd reaction.
Mother’s Day Photoshop Fail
After Kate’s abdominal surgery in January 2024, social media users started speculating about her whereabouts when they realized her last public appearance was one month prior. While the royals declined to comment or share her diagnosis, the conspiracy theories reached a fever pitch in March 2024 after a grainy TMZ photo of the princess and an edited family portrait.
On Mother’s Day that March, multiple news outlets were issued a “kill notice” to remove the pic from their websites because it had allegedly been manipulated by the source. (The photo caption noted that it was taken by William earlier that year.)
Kate later apologized for the backlash, noting she had indeed played around with photo editing software. “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she wrote in a statement. “I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day.”
