12 December 2023 , 16:49
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As the sixth season of The Crown explores the university romance of Prince William and Kate Middleton, we take a look at the very ordinary student house they shared at St Andrews University.
The young couple, who started out as friends, moved into 13A Hope Street in 2002, alongside classmates Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale. The off-campus terraced house, located in the centre of St Andrews, set the pals back just £100 per week each, and it's understood that everyone mucked in with cleaning duties - including Prince William.
The group would often host dinner parties at the ordinary-looking two-story house, and the future King even attempted to wow Kate with his culinary skills in their small shared kitchen.
Prince William tried to impress Kate with his cooking skills (HMJ Properties)
Prince William nearly wasn't allowed to stay (UK Press via Getty Images)During an interview with ivillage, landlady Charlotte Smith confessed she very nearly refused the tenants, as she had a strict 'no boys' policy, but she decided to reconsider after learning who would be staying there. According to Charlotte: "We'd had an unfortunate experience with some boys in the flat once before and we were determined not to have young men there again. Broken furniture, broken windows – there was a lot of damage, so that put us off really.
"I said to this young lady we'd really rather not have more boys and she said: 'What if I were to tell you that it was Prince William?'."
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Landlady Charlotte Smith was pleased with her Royal tenants (HMJ Properties)After mulling things over with her husband, Charlotte decided to give the students a chance and was pleased to find that William was in fact a 'very friendly, very charming … thoroughly nice man' who didn't try and haggle over the rent. Recalling her first impressions of Kate, Charlotte continued: "She was very friendly. She had her younger brother there at the time – I think just visiting – and she was very caring, making sure that he knew what was going on. They came across as a very nice group of people."
No doubt fans of The Crown will be looking forward to following the early days of William and Kate's love story, as the epic Royal drama enters the 21st century.
The second part of the sixth season of The Crown can be streamed on Netflix from December 14