No longer just good friends: Prince William and Miss Middleton together at a rugby match in 2004
The waiting is finally over, for Kate Middleton and Britain. Prince William, heir to the throne, appears to have found his perfect girl-next-door in the form of a friend from university.
Almost from the moment they first stepped out together, back in 2003, the nation has been anticipating the announcement of an engagement. Eight years later, that day has arrived.
It has been such a long time coming, poor Miss Middleton, 28, has earned the nickname 'Waity Katie', with her regular presence on his arm at the weddings of his friends drawing criticism that she has been hanging on for a proposal.
But her patience has finally paid off, and she can finally look forward to planning her dream wedding, set to take place next spring or summer.
The couple's long courtship began with a friendship back in 2001, when they met at St Andrews University.
it has been a far from easy ride for the bride-to-be, whose family, career and even fashion sense have come under criticism over the past decade.
Her lack of blue blood has been a source of criticism, even though the Countess of Wessex and Sarah Ferguson both hail from more aristocratic backgrounds.
Miss Middleton, who was studying history of art, had an early taste of the limelight during their first year, when William was spotted in the audience as she modelled in a charity fashion show.
The Prince, who read geography at the Scottish university, paid £200 to watch fellow students take to the runway, but Miss Middleton, in a sheer black lace dress over a black bra and bikini bottoms, stole the show.
Though the pair would go on to live together during their second year, they did not start dating straight away. Miss Middleton dated fellow student Rupert Finch, while William was linked with close friend Jecca Craig.
It is not known exactly when William and Kate became an item but it is rumoured to be around Christmas 2003. Their romance was finally exposed after they were pictured on the ski slopes of Klosters together in March 2004.
William's statement on the same holiday was perhaps an indication of the wait Miss Middleton had coming. He said: 'I don't want to get married until I'm at least 28, or maybe 30.'
The following year, William was still noncommittal about the relationship, and Miss Middleton was a noticeable absence at his father's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles.
Just three months later, however, she was on his arm at the wedding of William's close friend Hugh van Cutsem - the first of many the pair will attend together.
Shortly after, their families met for the first time their graduation ceremony. Now that their studies were over, it would be the first of many occasions that would spark rumours of an engagement.
Separate lives: The couple were forced to endure long periods apart when William began his Army Officer training at Sandhurst in 2005.Kate was hounded by photographers and was forced to threaten legal action
Instead they would enjoy a string of lavish holidays, taking in the Lewa Downs game reserve in Kenya, and another skiing trip to Klosters, where they were pictured kissing for the first time, before William began his Army training at Sandhurst.
Breaks in his training were also punctuated by luxury getaways in Mustique and Ibiza.
Of course, this would do nothing to deter media interest in the couple, which would become so intense, that in 2005, Miss Middleton's lawyers - the same used by the Prince of Wales - ask newspaper editors to leave her alone, claiming she is being hounded by photographers.
Public romance: The pair kiss on the slopes during a skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland, in 2006
Further complaints were made over the following year, and legal action was threatened.
The media attention focused on the couple was so intense, that the pair even split, briefly, in April 2007.
It was not to last long though. Just two months later the couple were seen kissing and dancing together at an Army party, and by May the following year, it seemed that the relationship was back on track when Kate attended the wedding of William's cousin, Peter Phillips, to Autumn Kelly, on her own, while her beau attended another wedding in Africa.
Meanwhile, Miss Middleton responded to public criticism over her lack of career - one of the factors that earned her the 'Waity Katie' nickname, with a job as an accessories buyer with Jigsaw, the fashion chain owned by friends of her family.
Back together, April 2008: The couple's reunion appears permanent, following a brief split in 2007
But it was during William's Sandhurst passing-out parade that Miss Middleton's mother, Carole came under fire.
Mrs Middleton, whose former career as an airline stewardess earned her the sniffy nickname 'Doors To Manual', was highly criticised for chewing what turned out to be nicotine gum during the formal ceremony.
But the couple would spend increasing amounts of time with each others' parents - they spent New Year together in 2008 at Birkhall, Prince Charles’s private residence on the Balmoral estate, and in December 2009, the Queen's lawyers warned newspapers against publishing paparazzi photos of the Royal family, fuelling speculation (again) of an engagement.
But still, there was no news of a Royal wedding, not even when William joined the Middleton family on a skiing holiday in Courcheval in March this year.
Engaged: Kate Middleton and Prince William at a wedding last month. The pair are to marry next summer
When asked by a member of the public about the prospect of a royal wedding, William said: 'You'll have to wait a while yet.'
But the rumour mill into overdrive when Miss Middleton's parents were spotted enjoying a shooting weekend at Birkhall earlier this month - a clear sign that the middle-class family had been accepted into the Royal fold.
And last week Royal aides would not rule out the prospect of an invitation for Miss Middleton to spend Christmas Day on the Sandringham estate for the first time - though this now looks less likely given that William has volunteered to work at RAF Valley in Anglesey on Christmas Day.
Though given that Miss Middleton has a lifetime of Royal formality ahead of her, she may be relishing the fact that this is the last 'normal’ Christmas she has left.
THE GIRLS HE LEFT BEHIND
No less than three of William's old flames attended the wedding of his friend Harry Meade in Gloucestershire last month.
While it is unlikely that, after ten years, any of these girls are brokenhearted, the Prince has left a string of beauties in his wake.
Olivia Hunt: Aged 28, she dated William at St Andrews, swiftly quitting the scene upon Kate's arrival. The trio have remained friends, however, and Olivia went on to romance William van Cutsem, son of Prince Charles's friend Hugh. That relationship has since ended.
Jecca Craig: The 28-year-old party events manager was William's Kenyan teen romance. Their love blossomed at her family's Lewa Downs 55,000-acre game reserve. She broke off her engagement to her long-term boyfriend, Hugh Crossley, last year.
Rose Farquhar: The aspiring actress, now 26, stole William's heart after he left Eton in the summer of 2000. Rose, daughter of Captain Ian Farquhar, master of the Beaufort Hunt, has known William since they were children and they are still firm friends
Jecca Craig, whom he met as a teenager, was the first to be romantically linked with him. William was said to have been so besotted with the heiress that they staged a
mock engagement ceremony when he spent his gap year in Kenya on her family's estate.
Rose Farquhar was William’s first serious girlfriend, and dated the prince shortly after he left Eton.
And during his first year at St Andrews University, he dallied with Olivia Hunt, but the relationship soon fizzled out.
source: dailymail