Prince William and Kate might have said I do while the world watched on during a fairytale wedding, but long before that moment the pair briefly went their separate ways.

The couple met at the prestigious St Andrew’s University in Scotland, starting out as friendly flatmates before striking up a romance, reports The Mirror. But in 2007, rumours began to emerge that the pair had split, feeling as thought they were in a different place to eachother.

Reports at the time said the now Princess of Wales was ready to commit, while William wanted to make the most of his youth. And so the pair are said to have split.

They would eventually reunite and go on to have three children. But during their time apart, Kate struck up a romance with another man.

She was reportedly seeing Henry Ropner – another tall and handsome wealthy man whose family own a £33.7million shipping management firm and a school friend of Prince William’s. Royal watcher Richard Compton Miller previously said: “I have no doubt William found it very difficult to replace Kate.

“He inhabits a world where women are very impressed by his status – and they often throw themselves at him. It’s quite hard to find a girl who is as beautiful as Kate and who has also got her feet on the ground.

“There were times when it was rumoured that he was getting up close and personal with girls in clubs but he never seems to have slept with them, as far as we know. We live in a world of kiss-and-tells and I think William is very frightened of that. The great thing about Kate is how beautifully she behaves.”

Kate’s relationship with Ropner, who is now married, was short-lived. She reunited with the future king in June 2007.

In 2010 Prince William said of their brief time apart: “We were both very young. it was at university, we were sort of both finding ourselves as such and being different characters and stuff, it was very much trying to find our own way and we were growing up. It was just sort of a bit of space and a bit of things like that, and it worked out for the better.”

Kate added: “I think at the time I wasn’t very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person.”