The key moment Kate’s dad knew Prince William was ‘serious’ about her | Royal | News

The Prince and Princess of Wales recently celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary by releasing a new family portrait. The royal couple famously married in a fairytale ceremony in front of the world’s cameras at Westminster Abbey in London in April 2011. But there was a moment three years ago when Kate’s father first thought his daughter’s relationship with the future King had become “serious.” In his father’s speech about the bride at the wedding, Michael Middleton is said to have shared an anecdote about William, then an RAF pilot, landing a helicopter in his garden.

“I knew things were getting serious when I found a helicopter in my yard,” he reportedly told guests. “I thought, God, he must love my daughter,” she said, according to The Times. “I was wondering how you were going to handle this then.” Prince William’s landing of an RAF Chinook helicopter in the Middletons’ Berkshire garden in 2008 caused controversy at the time.

William, who celebrated his 44th birthday on Sunday, and Kate, 44, met while they were students at the University of St Andrews in Fife.

Last year he was a guest of the King and Queen in the royal box but withdrew at the last minute as William attended alone.

It was understood at the time that the princess was trying to find the right balance as she fully returned to public activities following cancer treatment.

On Wednesday, William and Kate rode in a car behind Charles and Camilla along the racetrack; this is Henry IV, who made the first voyage with the Duke of Wellington. It was a tradition that dates back 200 years to the reign of King George VI.