Why the Garter Day Service Marked a Major Milestone in Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Relationship

The Princess of Wales attended the service on June 16, 17 years after her first appearance there in 2008, when she was William’s girlfriend.

The Gist

• Kate Middleton attended the Garter Day Service at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor on June 16, an event she missed last year because of her ongoing cancer treatment.
• Kate’s roots at the annual event go back to 2008, when she marked a major milestone by attending the event—signaling her future as a royal someday.
• The event in 2008 took place over two years before William ultimately proposed in 2010, and wasn’t Kate’s first hint that she was being accepted into the royal fold.

Even as far back as 2006, it was clear that Kate Middleton was more than just a girlfriend to Prince William—that their relationship, about four years in by that point, had serious potential. 

In December of that year, Kate attended William’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst graduation—significant, because this was her first royal event (Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles were also there), and the engagement rumors began to fly. That same month, the Queen took another major step and invited Kate to the royal family’s traditional Christmas at Sandringham—but Kate surprisingly declined.

The Queen’s 2006 invitation was the first time she’d invited a royal girlfriend to Sandringham, as understood royal protocol dictates that if there is “no ring” there is also “no bring.”

“In a surprise twist,” The Daily Mail reported, Kate “politely declined the offer, opting to stick with tradition and wait until she could attend as a married woman—with the ring to prove it.” It was proof, The Daily Mail reported, that Kate “valued the importance of tradition and patience.”

William and Kate had met as first-year students at the University of St. Andrews in 2001; by 2002, they were friends and even roommates, before starting their romantic relationship sometime around 2002 or 2003. By the time both graduated from college in 2005, they were extremely serious—and after the big time royal invitations in 2006, everyone was shocked when in April 2007, the couple of five years split.

William addressed their breakup in their 2010 engagement interview: “We did split up for a bit, but that was just—we were both very young,” he said. “It was at university, and we were both sort of defining ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff. It was very much trying to find our own way, and we were growing up.”

When William and Kate reconciled just months later over the summer of 2007, royal biographer Katie Nicholl wrote in her 2013 book Kate: The Future Queen that the couple made a secret marriage pact that year, done to provide some security for Kate but also some time for William, who at 25 years old wasn’t ready to get married yet. They visited the Seychelles to figure out their future together, and “There, on the paradise island, William promised Kate that he was in the relationship for the long term,” Nicholl wrote.

“For the very first time, they talked seriously about marriage, and with the ocean before them and beneath the night sky, they made a pact to marry,” she continued, adding, “They didn’t agree to get married there and then; what they made was a pact. William told Kate she was the one but he was not ready to get married. He promised her his commitment and said he would not let her down, and she, in turn, agreed to wait for him.”

Like in 2006 before their breakup, Kate was invited to a major royal event in 2008—the Garter Day Service—signaling that their relationship was not only back on, but that Kate was fully immersing herself in the royal fold. This was a major milestone, as Kate watched her then-boyfriend receive his knighthood in the Order of the Garter. At the service, she chatted with William’s brother Prince Harry and his stepmother, then known as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, wearing an elegant black and white ensemble. That first Garter Day Service appearance took place exactly 17 years ago today.

True to his word, William did eventually propose in Kenya in 2010; it was announced on November 16 of that year, five months before they married on April 29, 2011. Poignantly and in a full circle moment, the couple spent their honeymoon right back where their pact to be together forever began—the Seychelles.

“When I first met Kate, I knew there was something very special about her,” William said during their 2010 engagement interview. He continues to think so, 15 years later—and Kate returned to the Garter Day Service on June 16, an occasion she’s rarely missed since 2008 and that important milestone for her future as a royal.