Original subtitles

ROBIN KERMODE: She's the Princess

that captured the hearts of a nation.

Almost like she was born to do this job.

Kate Middleton has risen from the girl next door

to become one of the most influential women in the world.

'There's something quite romantic.'

This commoner, you know, becoming a princess.

But who is the woman behind the royal veil?

With first-hand testimony from those who know her best...

The Princess of Wales, she's got inner steel,

and she's not gonna be walked all over.

..this is a unique insight into the real Kate...

I think undoubtedly her own experience as someone

who did suffer, to a degree, at the hands of bullies.

..and how she's reshaping the monarchy

through sheer grit and steel.

What we're witnessing is a Middleton-isation

of the Royal Family.

As you're the volunteers for this evening.

Right, are you ready?

She is changing the way the Royal Family raises children.

Facing great challenges...

This girl was being harassed

in exactly the same way that Princess Diana was.

..triumphing over adversity...

Concerns and conversations

about how dark his skin might be when he's born.

The alleged racist comments just blew open a huge race row,

and that was just so incredibly damaging.

..dealing with tragedy...

The death of Queen Elizabeth

particularly changed everything for Princess Kate.

Now she really is Queen-in-waiting.

..and her own personal battles.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has been admitted to hospital.

I was convinced that something very seriously was wrong with her.

These were very dangerous times for the monarchy.

There was absolutely no sense of what was to come.

Tests after the operation found cancer had been present.

Kate has now become the one true Princess of the people.

And here we are - the appearance of Her Royal Highness.

I remember her coming into Centre Court

and sitting in the Royal Box...

and the roar of the crowd.

I think there was a collective "phew" from the nation.

Kate has changed, potentially,

the face and future of the British monarchy.

REPORTER: It is a phenomenon -

the biggest thing ever to hit the cinema.

BELL RINGS

Oyez, oyez, oyez!

It's a prince - a 7lb 1.5oz boy born late today

to Prince Charles and the Princess of Wales, Lady Diana.

In 1982,

William, the heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, is born.

That same year,

Michael and Carole Middleton welcomed their first child,

Catherine Elizabeth.

Catherine comes from a modest, middle-class family background.

Her parents, Carole and Michael, are the bedrock of her resolve.

Michael is a mild-mannered former British Airways flight dispatcher,

and her mother, Carole, is more of a dynamo.

She came from a working class background -

grew up in a council flat.

There's nothing common about Kate, but she certainly is a commoner.

She's a class act, but the reality is, you know,

her grandad was a painter and decorator.

They know what a mortgage was.

The Middletons are a very stable family.

They're a very together family.

If you look at the sort of humble beginnings of Carole Middleton,

she comes from a family of coal miners.

There's something quite romantic, I think, about this fairy tale

of this real-life, quote-unquote, commoner,

you know, becoming a princess.

But the Cinderella fairy tale narrative of rags to riches

isn't the whole story.

Michael Middleton comes way back through aristocratic roots.

Kate's great-grandmother Olive was a renowned society beauty

and mingled with members of the Royal Family.

It was trust funds inherited by Michael

from his aristocratic grandmother, Olive,

that helped give Kate a privileged start.

Michael and Carole were sort of hugely committed to their children

and giving them the best education that they could,

the best upbringing that they could.

I mean, in that respect, I suppose, just very regular, ordinary parents.

Until, of course, Carole's kitchen table business idea really took off

and ended up making them, actually, a huge amount of money.

She had done incredibly well, cos she lifted her family.

They became self-made millionaires through Party Pieces,

so, of course, that then sort of enabled them

to go into a different stratosphere in terms of their wealth,

the schools that they were able to afford.

As Carole's business thrives,

14-year-old Kate is moved from St Andrew's Prep School

to the prestigious Downe House, where the fees are almost double.

Parents these days pay more than £40,000 a year.

They learnt to ride, they played lacrosse -

all these kind of upper-middle-class pursuits.

I think the only downtime when she was a child

was when she went to Downe House,

and she was sort of the outsider.

She'd had a really rough time. She'd been quite badly bullied.

She didn't really fit in.

She wasn't part of the sort of fast set,

and I think at Downe House,

she was sort of looked down on for that

and given a bit of a hard time.

You know, when she went back after her first term

and told her parents how unhappy she was,

Carole and Michael were adamant that they weren't going

to make her suffer any more, that they would pull her out.

I think undoubtedly her own experience as someone

who did suffer, to a degree, at the hands of bullies

and who did have a bit of a miserable experience at school,

it makes sense, when you look at her work today,

promoting mental health awareness,

really being very proactive when it comes to anti-bullying

and campaigns around that genre.

In 1996, halfway through the school year,

Carole and Michael take decisive action

and move Kate into one of the country's most renowned schools.

So, Catherine moved to Marlborough.

So, at 14, she became a really popular,

charismatic, energetic girl.

So she really found her footing in Marlborough,

and, actually, it produces a lot of alpha consorts, in a way.

Samantha Cameron being one of them.

The reality is that she grew up in the Home Counties, as William did.

They went to very similar public schools

which played sport against each other.

They socialised together, they had friends in common

way before they went up to university.

Now at Marlborough, Kate is in an elite group of schools

that includes Harrow and Eton.

She had actually met Prince William through Emilia d'Erlanger,

and that Wiltshire set was quite a close set.

The Eton boys had gone to Marlborough parties.

They were in that kind of upper-middle-class milieu,

and so she knew of William.

Soon, you shall meet a handsome man - a rich gentleman.

It is all I've ever hoped for. Will he fall in love with me?

Indeed he will. And marry me?

And marry you. Did I not say this is your lucky day?

When you look back on that footage of her in the school play,

being told by a fortune teller that she's going to marry a prince,

and he'll be called William,

and you see Kate sort of saying, "Oh, my," it is quite remarkable.

I mean, of course, pure coincidence.

It's a new millennium and a new chapter for Kate

as she finishes at Marlborough and decides on her next steps.

Kate and two of her best friends had determined that Edinburgh

was the destination for them to do their university degree.

Certainly had a very high reputation in art history,

and when they secured places,

they were all excitedly looking forward to going there.

Except, at the last minute, Kate appeared to change her mind,

and she decided to have a gap year.

It was in Chile, in the mountains of Patagonia,

the very same place that William went to,

albeit at different times.

Whilst on her gap year,

there's an update from Kensington Palace.

William announced he was going to St Andrews University.

Cue hysteria from the female population of the UK.

Many people have seen The Crown.

There's been some suggestion that Carole Middleton

had schemed her way to put her daughter Kate

in the path of William Wales

so that she can make her daughter a princess.

It's kind of... There's a stupid scene in The Crown.

Come on...

You've always loved the idea of me and William together.

I was all set to go to Edinburgh University

straight after school with all my friends,

then you suggested I change it to St Andrews

after a gap year with none of my friends.

That was no coincidence.

Yes, it was.

Someone that I spoke to claimed they were actually in

the Middleton kitchen when Carole was on the phone to Kate,

abroad in Chile,

and she changed the UCAS application to St Andrews.

Kate had the place at Edinburgh,

but she reapplied that autumn through UCAS with her A-level grades

to go to St Andrews to read history of art.

And because Kate was away, Carole organised all of that.

I think it's a bit far-fetched

to say that Carole wanted Kate to marry William.

Why not? Maybe she knew that William was gonna be going to St Andrews,

and she wanted to meet him.

Majority of people say, "And what's wrong with that?"

Kate's decision to reject her place in Edinburgh

and apply and be accepted to study at St Andrews

was really one of the most momentous decisions.

It has changed, potentially,

the face and future of the British monarchy.

CROWD CHEERING

REPORTER: The small university town of St Andrews

had never seen anything like it.

Prince William greeted...

ROBIN KERMODE: In Scotland,

Prince William is starting his first year at university

alongside fellow fresher Kate Middleton.

Admissions to St Andrews had soared by 44%,

mostly from wealthy female Americans wanting to come over to the UK

and bag their prince.

So, there was no guarantee that Kate was going to get in

and onto that course.

Very luckily for her, she did,

but there is this extraordinary pattern of these two...

Almost, it's like it's destined for them to be together.

There's the chance meeting at school and then being on gap years,

but a sort of Sliding Doors moment where they're actually not

in the same place at the same time,

and then finally they end up meeting in the corridor

on the way down to the canteen for breakfast one morning

at St Salvator's at St Andrews.

Because it's a small town and students really have nowhere to go,

they have to make their own entertainment.

And Kate did just that when she discovered an injustice

on the student social scene.

When she found out there was a male-only anything,

or, in this case, drinking society,

she thought, "Oh, well, why should that be the case?

"We'll start a women's one."

And that just shows you that she's not...

It gives you a bit of an insight into her character, actually.

During their first year, William and Kate are just good friends,

but that all changes when she makes a daring decision.

It's fascinating to think that a future Queen of England

walked down the catwalk in her lingerie, effectively.

I understand it was originally a skirt,

but she wanted to wear it as a dress.

It was quite provocative,

quite an out there look, shall we say.

CHEERING # Give up yourself unto the moment

# Let's make this moment last. #

'This shows she has that more playful side and is quite daring.'

I mean, you know, walking out into a room full of people

wearing a very sheer dress is not the work of a shy woman.

You know, she's not a shrinking violet,

by any shape of the imagination.

You know, she's got a bit of chutzpah about her, without a doubt.

Now, she was dating someone at the time.

She was dating a student called Rupert Finch,

and William was sitting with a friend who he turned to and said,

"Wow, Kate's hot."

And it's like, in that moment,

suddenly, he realised this sort of lovely, loyal friend of his

who'd been dutifully taking notes for him at lectures

and, you know, hanging out in the canteen

was actually really gorgeous.

That night, there was an after-party at someone's house in Hope Street,

and I was told that William actually made a move on Kate.

He made a pass at her, but because she was dating Rupert,

she rebutted his advances.

William and Kate were able to enjoy a really normal university life,

and after the first year,

they moved into an apartment together in Hope Street,

which is when they started dating.

But they were living with two other friends who kept the cover.

Catherine and William actually dated effectively in secret.

Their friends formed an immensely close protective bubble around them,

much like her family still does.

So for around about two years,

they were able to conduct a fairly, quote-unquote,

normal relationship at university

and just being out of the sort of global spotlight.

Knowing, as I do, how journalists work,

I'm sure journalists knew who he was dating.

They were not going to print anything.

William and Harry were guaranteed privacy

for the remainder of their full-time education -

school and then on to university -

and in return, the media would get, from time to time,

some set-piece interviews and photographs.

All came about as a result of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

In August 1997,

the world awoke to news that rocked the foundations of the Royal Family.

We have reports from Paris that Diana, Princess of Wales

has been killed in a car accident,

and that her partner, Dodi Fayed, has also been killed.

They were apparently being pursued by paparazzi on two motorcycles.

And as a result of that, while the British press weren't there,

they did feel an element of responsibility.

That was the lever by which Buckingham Palace

and Kensington Palace were able to make these arrangements.

"We'll give you a facility, after which you leave them alone."

As Kate and William try to keep their relationship under wraps,

this press agreement is put to the test.

People were very keen to get in touch with newspapers.

Students wanted to sell stories and pictures about him.

I have to say that the media didn't print paparazzi pictures.

The paparazzos didn't really go away

throughout much of the time he was there.

Their problem was they couldn't find a market to sell their wares.

After over a year of dating, William is on his family ski trip,

but what the press don't know is that he secretly joined by Kate.

There was a tradition that on the first day,

they would pose up for a photograph for the media,

and then the media would leave and allow the Royal Family

to have an uninterrupted holiday.

REPORTER: And, William, are you here with some good friends?

Yeah, with some friends, definitely. Having a good laugh.

The following day, William unveiled his companion on this holiday,

and one of the photographers who remained behind,

one of the paparazzos, got a picture.

The Sun had wind of it for several weeks,

and it took them all of that time to finally get them.

There was a media embargo around William

protecting his time at St Andrews,

but this technically wasn't at St Andrews.

This was a place where previously official royal photocalls

have taken place.

You're in a very public area. You're in a foreign country.

Very difficult to enforce those rules.

The Sun would've thought, "This is too big a story.

"This is too great a photograph not to publish."

And there's always the risk that someone else

may have taken the photograph or got the story

and published before The Sun if they'd held on to it.

And, of course, the dam broke, if you like.

The headlines just went berserk.

The unassuming middle-class girl from Berkshire

was thrust into the public spotlight.

So, The Sun ran a headline.

It was quite a legitimate headline.

William and Catherine would know perfectly well

that they were being photographed.

It caused such an upset.

I don't think Kate was very happy.

I don't think her family were very happy.

Suddenly, she's been outed.

I remember briefings from the Palace at that time that,

yes, this was his girlfriend, and, yes, they lived together,

but they didn't share a bedroom.

They were just boyfriend and girlfriend,

but they were sharing a house with some other friends.

We then became obsessed with finding out all we could

about this young woman.

You know, her parents were door-knocked,

her sister was door-knocked, her brother was door-knocked.

And everybody wanting to know,

what's her mum do, what's her dad do?

What her grandparents do, family trees...

Who are her previous boyfriends? "Let's go and talk to those."

REPORTER: Very soon,

Kate Middleton could be one of the most famous women in the world,

and yet she must try to forge a career on her own terms.

Back at St Andrews, Kate is protected from the press,

but her student days are coming to an end.

Catherine Middleton.

She graduated with a very commendable 2:1 in art history...

..as indeed did William.

William Wales. APPLAUSE

Certainly far better than his father had done in his university career.

Once Kate left university,

she was considered fair game.

After the graduation, it was like open season.

Given that they'd been so cushioned and protected at St Andrews,

when they graduated,

you know, that bubble was popped quite fiercely.

I really felt sorry for Kate because I think it was a bit of a shock.

She's not entitled to royal protection at that point.

In 2005, Kate leaves St Andrews, and with it,

the press deal that covers William, leaving her vulnerable.

Kate moved to London,

where her parents had a flat just off the King's Road.

And, you know,

she was photographed sitting on the top deck of a London bus...

..looking wistfully out.

She was photographed going about her chores, her grocery shopping.

You know, she could've been knocked over,

she could've been harmed in a physical way.

I don't think anything really prepares you

for what ultimately happens when this media storm breaks.

CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK, PAPARAZZI CLAMOUR

ROBIN KERMODE: Kate Middleton has finished university

and moves to London,

into the full glare of the media spotlight.

For a young girl who'd always lived

a pretty sheltered and protected life,

it was a pretty tricky time for Kate to navigate.

Being in the eye of that storm must be extremely intimidating.

Well, Kate is tough and she's savvy,

so she must've known that at some point, this would happen.

But I think you can forgive her for thinking

that it wasn't going to happen quite that soon.

She was invited to spend Christmas at Sandringham with the Queen,

which was a very coveted invitation,

which she declined because they were not engaged.

And there was fevered speculation in the press

that there was going to be an engagement any day.

You know, Kate had just had her birthday,

the paps were camped outside her flat,

you know, in anticipation of this engagement announcement.

CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK, PAPARAZZI CLAMOUR

Happy birthday, Kate.

It got to an absolute frenzy where you had, like, 50, 60 people

outside her flat.

There were hordes of media,

and you could see Catherine being pursued relentlessly.

And this poor girl was having to sort of run the gauntlet

to get to the bus.

Photographers hounding

Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton,

on her way to work.

Like Princess Diana before her, media camped out on the doorstep.

She didn't have security.

She didn't have anyone literally holding her hand,

getting people out of the way.

You can tell she's finding it difficult.

She's got her lips pursed. She's looking down.

She doesn't want the photographers there.

They're getting in her face. She wants to get to her car.

If you're not used to it, it's quite scary.

You know, it's really scary.

She was finding it a struggle, I think.

Privately, she confided in Prince William

that it was a struggle.

The scrutiny was pretty intense for her.

Those images were absolutely brutal, in my view.

I have no doubt that this was almost becoming

like what had happened with his mother,

and that ended in her death.

'Princess Diana was followed in a similar way.

'Many senior Royals still blame photographers for her death.

'Now they're demanding more privacy as they go

'about their everyday lives.'

This girl was being harassed

in exactly the same way that Princess Diana was.

At the time, both the former press secretary, Dickie Arbiter,

and even Diana's bodyguard, Ken Wharfe,

warned very much that we needed to do something about this.

William made a statement asking the media

to kind of give Kate some space, so to kind of back off a little bit.

And legal letters started going

between Kensington Palace and the newspapers.

The press backed off in a big way. The paparazzi less so.

At the time, William went,

and the Queen and his father sat him down and sort of said

she has been subject to all this press attention and intrusion,

and if you aren't planning on proposing anytime soon,

then it's potentially a bit unfair.

And I think William took this to heart.

I just noticed a change with William.

I'd noted something had changed.

Um...

and that's when I knew something wasn't right.

The couple were really on the rocks, and they'd been photographed

at the Cheltenham Races back to back.

Sort of looking away from each other.

Actually, that picture was very, very telling.

I just noticed that Kate wasn't in conversation.

She wasn't around. I noted that she wasn't...

She used to always be around. Suddenly, she wasn't around.

It was things like that I noticed.

Kate was working at the time,

and she took a phone call from William

while she was in a meeting

and went off to a private room to take this call,

which lasted nearly an hour.

And when she came out, her and William had broken up.

'He's young, eligible, red and blue-blooded

'and isn't quite ready, it seems, to settle down.'

Kate had gone home to her parents' house

and, you know, spent a few days obviously being very upset.

Catherine, stoic as ever,

wasn't going to let that little blip interfere with her life.

She was going to carry on.

She was going to have to hang on to her inner anger.

She decided that she wasn't going to show any vulnerability.

She would go out to the nightclubs with her sister, Pippa.

She went out on dates. She went to parties.

She went out with the guy that she'd known at school.

Her skirts got shorter, her tan got more bronze.

She looked fantastic.

Definitely, there was a bit of a shift in her style.

It was a little sexier, a little more daring.

I think a little bit of, "Hey, look what you're missing."

Revenge-dressing and dressing for a good time.

She just got on with her own life,

and I think William saw very quickly what he was missing.

William, who was then, you know...

may have gone out and drunk the menu, as he said.

But once you've drunk the menu,

you start to then probably wake up and smell the roses

and think, "Well, what have I done that for?"

I felt he was quite sad at that time.

I just felt he was a little bit... also a little bit lonely.

Everybody loved Kate being around.

Everybody enjoyed it when she used to be there,

and it was always fun, and it was always jokey.

We used to sit with William and Kate in the kitchen,

and it was always really good fun kind of hanging out with them.

And suddenly, all that changed.

And it wasn't just us, you know.

The other members of the household said, "Oh, miss Kate."

Probably hurting inside, but she wasn't going to let it show.

That shows the stature and the nature of the upbringing

and the stature of the person.

Two months after the split,

Kate and William are seen socialising.

They went to Sam Waley-Cohen's birthday party,

where they sat and discussed their future.

Kate obviously wanted some reassurances, I think.

She wasn't going to go back out with William

and break up with him again.

REPORTER: 'With speculation rife,

'William and Kate might be heading for a reconciliation,

'how does William feel about Kate coming?'

Uh, well, er...

You can clearly comment on this one.

Wow! I've got lots of friends coming, so, you know,

everyone's going to be there on the night,

and it's going to be a great night.

That's very well avoided, William.

Very diplomatic.

She was there at Wembley

for a concert tribute to William's mother,

albeit sitting two rows behind.

But it did give a good indication

that all was not lost when it came to that relationship.

And it wasn't long after that that they got back together again.

It was always a question, I think,

that hung over Catherine's head at the beginning.

How can a woman, a girl from a middle-class family,

transition into the Royal Family

and, you know, take on that huge responsibility,

that global spotlight and everything that comes with it,

all the complications that come with it?

And I think in that moment in the break-up,

she really came into her own in the way of proving herself

to be able to handle that attention, that level of scrutiny.

And I think the Royal Family saw that.

She understood what the role was.

She considered in that period, possibly,

when she was out of the relationship with William,

"What are the price of playing the game?

"I love this guy.

"Do I want to make my life with him? "What are the pressures?"

And I think she went away.

She thought about it, and she bought into it.

With the romance back on,

their relationship enters a more serious stage.

All the media were really interested

about when Catherine was going to meet the Queen.

I was involved in the communications plan for the wedding

of Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly.

Peter told me Catherine Middleton

was going to be one of the guests there.

William was in Africa at the time,

so Kate went to this wedding on her own,

which was quite a big thing for her to do,

and have that sort of first official meeting with the Queen.

Would have been obviously very nerve-wracking for her.

And I think the Queen very much warmed to Kate.

There was a curiosity about her.

In an ITV interview, Kate talks about her big moment

meeting the Queen for the first time.

And it was in amongst a lot of other guests,

and she was very friendly, and...

No, it was... it was... Yeah, it was fine.

She was very welcoming. She knew it was...

it was, you know, it was a big day and everything was going on.

Peter and Autumn were there,

and she wanted to meet Kate for a while,

so it was very nice of her to come over and say hello.

Doing it on her own,

going solo without Prince William being there

demonstrates the mettle of the girl.

She is very confident.

With Kate now a serious prospect for William,

she comes under greater scrutiny from the Palace.

Background checks would have been done,

not just on Catherine, but on the family as well.

They have to be careful about who's around them all the time,

so they have to be pretty certain that you're safe to be around them.

Even with me, my parents had background checks done

and my grandparents, and they were no longer alive.

They check everything.

ROBIN KERMODE: After five years of dating Prince William,

Kate is invited on holiday with the entire Royal Family.

She now faces the so-called "Balmoral Test".

So, the Balmoral Test is, as it's nicknamed,

it's when you go up to Balmoral,

which is a very sacred kind of place for the late Queen.

It was such a big deal because it's Queen Elizabeth's private home.

It's very, very informal compared to Buckingham Palace.

I remember someone saying to me

the Queen leaves her crown on the gates as she enters Balmoral.

It's, really, when they can relax, be themselves,

take their crowns off and put their headscarves on.

There's fine-dining experiences.

There's shooting, there's fishing, there's walking.

Can you imagine how much you've got to take for that?

If you don't have it, you've got to buy it.

So you need your shooting gear,

your fishing gear, your walking gear.

Have you got the right wellies?

You want make sure you're getting the ones

that have got the royal warrant.

You know you don't get any kind of...

You're not going to go and get them from Amazon, are you?

There's also protocol about what time you arrive,

getting shown to your room, who you take, who you can't take.

When you have dinner parties, who you sit next to.

What you talk about, what you don't talk about.

If you get invited to do something

with the King and the Royal Family, you can't say no.

So you have to... You're obviously gonna go.

The whole point of it is to see how you fit in.

After a weekend with all the Royals, Kate clearly impresses.

Well, Kate's been many, many times,

so I think it's safe to say that she passed the test.

Having won over the family,

speculation about an engagement is rife.

But a proposal isn't forthcoming.

Kate, she dated William for the best part of ten years.

I'm sure he wanted to give her enough time to make sure that...

almost that she, you know... if she wants to get out, she can.

SHOUTS ORDERS

She met William in 2001,

and here we were well into the noughties.

But there was no sign of William popping the question.

Hence, you know, those slightly, I think, unfair comments

about "Waity Katie".

It was a bit insulting, really, to say,

"Well, there are lots of guys who would want to marry you.

"Why are you hanging around for Prince William?

"He can't make up his mind. You've already had one break-up.

"What's to say there isn't going to be another one?"

But she was patient.

She knew what the relationship was all about.

We didn't, but she knew what it was all about.

He and Kate went on holiday together to Kenya.

They were high in the mountains in Kenya.

They were on the side of this beautiful lake in a hut.

Had no electricity, no mobile phone signal, nothing.

It was just the two of them, and...

he went down on one knee and proposed with Diana's ring.

The engagement changes things because it shifts another gear.

Kate is now a future queen.

Now, let me just bring you some breaking news.

Prince William and his long-time love, Kate Middleton, are official.

After an eight year on-again, off-again relationship.

Finally, Prince William has announced

that he and Kate Middleton are engaged.

ROBIN KERMODE: In an interview with ITV,

William opens up about popping the question.

I'd been planning it for a while,

but as every guy out there will know,

it takes a certain amount of motivation to get yourself going.

So I was planning it

and then it just felt really right out in Africa.

And it was beautiful at the time,

and I had done a little bit of planning

to obviously show my romantic side.

She probably knew deep down inside that,

yes, it was going to end up in marriage,

but it was when he was ready.

I really didn't expect it at all.

I thought he might have sort of maybe thought about it,

but, no, it was a total shock when it came and... very excited!

INTERVIEWER: And he produced the ring?

Yeah. There and then?

William asked Granny's permission

to get it out of the jewellery vaults

at Buckingham Palace.

I'd been carrying it around with me in my rucksack

for about three weeks before that, and I literally would not let it go.

Everywhere I went, I kept hold of it

because I knew if it disappeared, I'd be in a lot of trouble.

Kate's engagement ring - it's originally based on a brooch

given by Prince Albert to Queen Victoria,

and Princess Diana chose it from a tray

that Garrards brought round to the palace.

It was the most expensive at £47,000.

And he put it at the bottom of his rucksack.

It is a fine ring, yes. It's my mother's engagement ring.

So I thought it was quite nice cos obviously

she's not gonna be around to share

any of the fun and excitement of it all.

This was my way of keeping her sort of close to it all.

The way that she wears it, it feels like Kate's ring.

It doesn't feel like Diana's ring. It feels like Kate's ring.

They came back to the UK.

There's one person he had told before they went

and that was her father, Mike Middleton.

Mike says he didn't even tell Carole.

I mean, come on.

And actually, we had quite an awkward situation because...

I knew, and I knew that William had asked my father,

but I didn't know if my mother knew.

So I came back from Scotland, and, you know,

my mother made it sort of...

didn't make it clear to me whether she knew or not.

So both of us were there,

sort of looking at each other and feeling quite awkward about it.

But, erm, it was amazing to tell her,

and obviously, she was very happy for us both.

The mood was electric. It was exciting.

It was joyous, thrilling.

It's always wonderful to know something

before everyone else as well.

We had to prepare a statement on behalf of the Queen,

obviously welcoming the news of the engagement.

Obviously thrilled. Thank you very much.

It's the most brilliant news.

There was so much excitement when the engagement was announced.

Yeah, there was a great cheer went up

and a great banging of the table.

REPORTER: Facing the cameras and a thousand exploding flashlights.

A young couple who will one day be king and queen.

It's quite a daunting prospect,

but hopefully, I'll take it in my stride.

William's a great teacher,

so I hope he'll be able to help me along the way.

They make a lovely couple. They're great fun to be with,

and we've had a lot of laughs together.

We wish them every happiness for the future.

The fact they picked Westminster Abbey,

which is where kings and queens have been crowned,

I thought, was a wow factor, you know,

because you don't often have royal weddings in there.

The Palace machinery produced a list of people

they thought should be invited to the palace,

and that included politicians, peers.

When William was first given the sort of proposed guest list,

and he went to the Queen and said, you know,

"Granny, we don't know half of these people."

To which the Queen said, "Well, tear it up and start again."

And they did.

William made it absolutely clear from the outset

that he wanted her family to be part of this unique unit.

So we saw the Middletons brought into the Royal Family

in a way that had never happened before.

For the planning of the wedding,

absolutely no stone was left unturned.

There's lots of rehearsals.

It's got to be perfect. There's no room for mistake.

I remember they were going on late at night -

midnight, one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning,

which was unbelievable.

You've got the people in the campsite,

many of whom set up tent a couple of nights ago

just so they'd be in the right position,

which they are, right outside the Abbey.

CROWD CHEERS

The night before the wedding, I was staying at Buckingham Palace,

and I had a room right at the front of the palace,

overlooking them all.

And I remember about three o'clock in the morning,

and I just couldn't sleep because the crowds were just chanting

and laughing and partying and celebrating,

and just feeling that genuine warmth and enthusiasm

by the public for the couple getting married.

Tens of thousands of people had lined the streets.

A completely international event with the world's press networks

from all around the world coming over.

As soon as she stepped out wearing that dress...

CROWD CHEERS

..you just thought, "Wow, she's a princess."

The dress was certainly something that she could take full control of.

And in fact, her parents paid for that dress,

a quarter-of-a-million pounds.

It was designed by Sarah Burton.

Sarah Burton was a woman at the helm of a big fashion house,

which rarely happens.

And so there was a little bit of

a feminist statement in there, I think.

Did her own wedding make-up, which, I think, is the first time

a Royal bride has ever done such a thing.

It was really unusual.

And that was, I suppose, a way of her sort of taking control

and having things on her terms.

It was Kate's idea to fill the nave with these young saplings,

and it felt like you were entering a kind of sun-dappled forest.

It was a spectacular idea.

Amongst those pews of dignitaries and VIPs

were just people that they'd gone to university with.

So it felt... like a family wedding.

You were front and centre

and part of something really, really historical.

ROWAN WILLIAMS: Catherine Elizabeth,

wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband?

I will.

This is the moment.

She is the future queen.

Catherine was almost unflappable.

So the way she presented herself,

the way she transitioned into the Duchess of Cambridge,

that was just an incredible thing to see.

A million people had crowded

from Buckingham Palace back to Trafalgar Square

to watch that kiss on the balcony.

CROWD CHANTS AND CHEERS

CROWD CHEERS

I think it was just this moment of this new generation coming in.

And, of course, you know, the future heir to the throne,

the future king finding his bride.

And everyone was so excited.

It was an immense positive for them

after quite a difficult, tumultuous period,

following Diana's death.

It was the most-watched wedding ever.

Billions had watched it, which speaks volumes.

It really was the greatest show on Earth.

REPORTER: It is time to start seeing the world.

William and Kate's first overseas tour,

Canada will provide an appropriate stage

for a debut appearance.

ROBIN KERMODE: Two months after the wedding,

Kate Middleton faces her first big public engagement.

The scrutiny on the new Duchess of Cambridge would be enormous,

and she would be very conscious that she can't put a foot wrong

because everyone would be looking at her.

And it's her first huge overseas event

representing UK PLC.

So she's working as a member of the Royal Family,

but also as a diplomat as well.

REPORTER: The images from the tour

have been a brochure for the new monarchy.

The cameras never left Kate, and they liked what they saw.

The crowds were huge.

Everyone wanted to see her.

As far as they were concerned, this is the new Diana,

and it was all starting again.

Probably a bit daunting for Catherine

because, yes, she'd experienced the wedding,

but now she was experiencing the public first-hand,

and she was going to be meeting them.

They were going to shake lots of hands.

They're going to be lots of selfies, so it was quite a baptism of fire.

It's not easy. I think she did it, really,

with a grace and composure that is a credit to her.

Thrown in at the deep end,

Kate excels on her first Royal tour, but she still has a lot to learn.

Suddenly stepping into that role must be incredibly intimidating,

but she has Prince William by her side.

I'll do the talking bit. She's going to do the fun bit.

He will be her key advisor,

helping her adjust to this whole new world.

APPLAUSE

She's been educated by her husband, her father-in-law,

and also by the Queen.

And it's not like they all go to a classroom

and you have the Queen walk up and down

and tell them what to do. It doesn't work like that.

The Queen was very, very sweet. She wouldn't be giving a lesson.

She would almost kind of just be given advice or guidance,

and she would watch the Queen.

In the BBC documentary The Queen At 90,

Kate affectionately describes the monarch's influence.

I feel she's been there,

sort of a gentle guidance, really, for me.

I think there is a real art to walkabouts.

Everyone teases me in the family, that I spend far too long chatting,

so I think I've still got to learn a little bit more

and to pick up a few more tips, I suppose.

Ultimately, she had to learn like they all did,

by going out and doing it,

and by trying it out and seeing how it felt.

She was able to do it in a way

that made people feel like they were really having a chance

to kind of have a special moment with her.

What are you doing here? Are you drawing?

You really feel like you're being listened to,

and she makes you feel like you're the only person there.

CHEERING, SQUEALING

In her new role,

Kate also has to adapt to intense scrutiny,

facing a multitude of camera lenses and eager Royal fans

watching her every move.

It's extremely nerve-wracking.

You've got the eyes of the world on you.

You are suddenly the most photographed woman in the world.

Every single thing that you do is analysed,

whether it's what outfit you choose or how you do your make-up

or every haircut, how you dye your hair,

especially particularly looks, when it comes to women.

One of the things that Catherine learned very quickly,

that she was a style icon, that everywhere she went,

what she was wearing was analysed,

and she was looked upon more as a clothes horse

rather than a workhorse.

It's something that she has had to figure out along the way.

She joined the Royal Family,

and it was the first time in a long time

that we'd had a youthful female energy

at the front and centre,

and that ability to embrace that in your clothes.

I think that actually speaks a lot about her as a person

and this essence of herself.

There's a down-to-earth quality there.

While style comes naturally,

other demands of the role are more of a challenge.

She definitely got a lot of advice for public speaking.

People were very aware that she was nervous about this.

It wasn't something she relished.

And I think it was even harder for her,

because she hadn't made a speech,

and so when she did, it became this huge deal.

Nearly a year after becoming a princess,

Kate finally makes a speech.

First of all, I'd like to say thank you.

Thank you for not only accepting me as your patron,

but thank you also for inviting me here today.

She was very nervous. She stuttered. She fluffed her words.

I felt really sorry for her.

She's taken elocution lessons.

She's taken public speaking lessons.

Hello. Thank you so much for having me here today...

Over time, actually, what she's come to realise

is that just being a bit more natural with the delivery

actually works better.

A year into the new job,

as Kate adapts to becoming a princess,

a break in France provides a reality check.

They were staying for a holiday at Lord Linley's place in France,

a huge distance between the public area where she was,

and she thought she was safe.

Security that they would have had should have taken note of that.

Don't go there, because you can be seen from the road.

And they were seen. She was seen.

The photographs were taken of the Duchess of Cambridge

while she was on a private holiday in France.

Sunbathing topless from a kilometre away.

Pretty grainy, but nevertheless, they got a picture.

In Britain,

the press refuses to print the controversial photos,

but in Europe, the US and across the world,

Kate's topless image is published on websites

and printed in newspapers and magazines.

She shouldn't feel ashamed, you know. It's not on her.

It's on the paparazzi selling those photographs for profit.

Shame is on them.

You don't expect to be photographed on a private estate,

but at the end of the day,

if you can be seen from a public vantage point,

then it's a bit self-inflicted.

They were published, actually,

when they, her and Prince William, were on an overseas tour.

I think it was starting in Malaysia or Indonesia.

So, when they were embarking on this major tour

representing UK PLC,

a diplomatic tour,

really important for the monarchy and for the country.

And on the day of the tour starting, these photographs were published.

I think it's absolutely disgusting,

and how they continued on that tour,

with all of this going on in the background,

I couldn't do it. I think absolutely hats off to them

to show their professionalism and putting duty before self

when all of this is going on.

I remember watching them as they came across this rope bridge

in the middle of the Borneo jungle, and they were both very down,

you know, it obviously had an impact upon them.

I think she felt humiliated.

That she wasn't just going to take this lying down

tells you quite a lot about who she is.

The legal battle for the Royal Family.

Prince William and Princess Kate are suing French media

for more than £1 million in damages

for publishing topless photos of Kate sunbathing.

Just over a year after becoming a princess,

Kate Middleton's privacy is breached by the foreign press.

It has echoes of the threats faced by Princess Diana,

as described by Prince William in a BBC documentary.

Very sadly, a lot of my memories

revolve around trying to cheer her up.

And I believe that she cried more to do with press intrusion

than anything else in her life.

She was subjected to treatment that, frankly,

nowadays people would find utterly appalling.

Kate instructs lawyers in Paris to take the publication to court.

Clearly antagonised them so much

that they were not going to take this sitting down.

They were going to stand up and fight

for what was clearly their rights.

It took five years, but they wanted justice.

A long and costly battle ensues.

In 2017, the court in Paris finds in favour of Kate

when the publisher, editor and photographers

are fined 100,000 euros.

What that revealed to the world about the Princess of Wales

is actually she's got inner steel,

and she's not going to be walked all over.

One way for Kate to control her image

is to commission a portrait.

I was contacted by the National Portrait Gallery

to paint the first official portrait of the Princess.

She came to our house, to the studio.

There was five builders working right opposite our house,

and the car stopped and the Princess got out,

and not one of them recognised her,

and I thought that was extraordinary.

She wanted to be portrayed as her natural self,

rather than in a regal royal role.

The actual portrait took me about three months to do.

Before the official reveal,

Kate gets a sneak preview of her painting

on display at the National Portrait Gallery.

'The response from the Princess and her family

'was very enthusiastic.

'They all liked it very much.'

After Kate's positive review of her portrait,

the painting is revealed to the press.

'The day was a bit of a merry-go-round.'

And then, in the afternoon,

we became aware that there was

this controversy about the portrait...

..which was appearing on social media.

I found that quite difficult, I must be honest.

I didn't expect it.

I think it's one of the most dull, predictable, safe royal portraits

I've seen for a very long time.

A lot of the criticism was quite malicious.

Both of the portrait and also of her,

and I thought was really undeserved.

This is Kate's first taste of public disapproval.

Being a member of the Royal Family is like no job on earth.

You're almost thrown at the deep end,

and I think it takes a certain character and personality

to be able to fulfil that role.

Not long after the wedding, there is press speculation

about when Kate will produce an heir.

REPORTER: Those Palace pregnancy rumours,

those pesky pregnancy rumours, uh, they just won't quit.

Behind the gates of Kensington Palace,

Kate has a secret.

She's less than 12 weeks pregnant

when she falls ill and is rushed to hospital.

Catherine suffered really badly from morning sickness.

She was rushed into hospital,

which meant that William would have to tell the Queen and his father

what was happening. And really, that was the reason that

they had to reveal the pregnancies earlier than maybe expected.

The build-up outside St Mary's, Paddington.

The layers and layers of media, all waiting.

I remember going there and just seeing this bank of cameras.

BELL RINGING

The first born of Their Royal Highness,

the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

BELL RINGING

Kate describes this moment in a podcast interview.

HOST: What was it like knowing that so many people are outside

after you've given birth

and you're in your little cocoon with your new family?

KATE: Yeah. Slightly terrifying. HOST LAUGHS

Slightly terrifying, I'm not gonna lie.

HOST LAUGHS

Both William and I were really conscious that, you know,

this was sort of something that everyone was excited about.

And, you know, we're hugely grateful for the support.

But equally, it was coupled with a newborn baby

and sort of inexperienced parents

and the uncertainty about what that held.

So there was all sorts of sort of mixed emotions.

WHOOPING, CHEERING

When she first presented Prince George to the world,

she looked impeccable. She really did.

She knew that that was a part of the job,

that, yes, she'd just had her first baby boy,

but he was the future King of England,

and this was a moment to share with the public.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Here's where that modernity comes in.

She wore a dress that had a little belt

that actually accentuated her bump,

stepping out and being like, "Yes, I have just had a baby.

"My body has changed,

"but that won't stop me from coming to work and doing my job."

And if you think about Diana, when she was pregnant,

she wore a lot of really baggy clothes

that kind of hid her bump.

Yes, very emotional. It's such a special time.

I think any parent, I think, would probably sort of, erm...

know what this feeling feels like.

I remember chaining this frame with the announcement

on the gates of Buckingham Palace

and hearing this enormous roar of the crowd cheering,

because this is a moment of history, a baby boy being born,

and he will be our next king.

Kate's first decision as a mother raises eyebrows at the palace,

breaking with the tradition

that a newborn heir stays within the Royal Household.

The Queen gave them Anmer Hall in Norfolk as a wedding present,

knowing that it was going to be a bolt-hole for them,

a place where they could completely retreat and escape,

and I think everyone expected that they'd go to Anmer after that,

when in fact they went back to Bucklebury, to Kate's parents,

and that was really breaking the mould.

So it was not a case of having a maternity nurse

and someone to take care of the baby in that respect.

It was Kate and her mother.

They went to the Middletons to recuperate.

And I think actually, erm... lovely.

Any girl wants to be with her mother once she's had a child.

Their security entourage moved in.

And when you think about that first picture of them as a family,

it was taken by Michael Middleton

in the back garden of the family home.

So, you know, you could see

that they were doing things very much on their terms.

Kate and Prince George stay in Bucklebury for two months.

Not long after Prince George was born,

Charles was heard complaining

that he didn't actually get to see much of his grandson.

And this was quite a loaded remark, because we knew that the Middletons

were seeing an awful lot of their grandson.

Carole and Mike Middleton were very were very much hands-on

when the newborn George was around.

Charles much less so.

I think there was a sense that William was sort of embracing

the Middleton side of the family far more than his own.

What we're witnessing

is a "Middleton-isation" of the Royal Family.

And what I mean here are the sort of middle-class values

that the Middletons invested in their own children -

respect for authority, courtesy, sympathy and understanding.

Kind of natural things

which any parent would really want to instil in their children,

but something that was possibly lacking

in William's own life experiences up until that stage,

up until he was introduced to the Middletons.

In 2015, the family grows with the birth of Princess Charlotte...

..and almost three years later, the arrival of Prince Louis.

Kate continues to raise her children with the values she grew up with.

Everything with Kate goes back to what she learned

around the dining room table with Carole and Mike Middleton.

This was a family who did things together,

but who talked things through.

In the Royal Family, orders are sort of sent down on high

and you're expected to follow them,

and I think with Kate,

we're going to see a very different monarchy

later on in this century.

It's very easy to describe this

as a sort of "middle-class-isation", if you like, of the monarchy,

but that is what is happening,

and I think it probably will be a good thing.

A less remote, more integrated family,

people who understand the everyday issues

that the rest of the country are going through.

She is changing the way the Royal Family raises children.

She is breaking a generational narrative

whereby Firm was put before family.

Her determination that they should adopt a real sense

of caring and responsibility to other people,

to the environment, to society.

You can see the way that she has instilled those values

in taking the children to a baby bank

to help look at toys for other children.

Come in. Come and see what we do.

'Yeah, there's lots of people who give up their time,

'and there are lots of volunteers who come and help out.'

And so, you're the volunteers for this evening.

Right? Are you ready?

MURPHY: Instilling in him this caring approach to society,

I think, is absolutely fundamental to how the monarchy will turn out.

You can see how rewarding the work is, isn't it? Yeah.

Knowing that you're helping out others.

I think it will shape our monarchy

and its future and its survival in the modern world.

While Kate raises the next generation of Royals,

she's also developing a deep bond

with her brother-in-law, Prince Harry.

They had a very, very close relationship at that time.

He really looked to Kate almost as a sisterly figure.

She was an incredibly encouraging figure around him

when he was having all sorts of doubts

about his life, his romances.

Like William, Harry is drawn to the stable family life.

He wanted his own wife and children.

He looked at what his brother had and really wanted that.

He would always be with them every weekend.

I think they provided a sort of safe space for him.

You really see their connection, the three of them.

They were sort of a very, very close-knit group.

But a new arrival threatens Kate's domestic bliss.

Harry was the eternal bachelor prince, the royal rebel.

He finds this woman.

She's successful, she's American, she's an actress,

and he falls madly in love with her.

Well, we have some good news out of London,

where Clarence House has announced the engagement of Prince Harry

to American actress Meghan Markle.

William and I are absolutely thrilled.

It's such exciting news,

and it's a really happy time for any couple,

and we wish them all the best.

We haven't sort of had this sort of a foursome

since the days of Charles and Diana and Sarah and Andrew.

That idea of this new Fab Four is incredibly appealing.

That's a snapshot of what the future's going to look like,

and doesn't it look bright?

Before Meghan arrived,

William, Catherine and Harry were working very closely together.

So, the fourth figure arrived.

This put the cat amongst the pigeons.

APPLAUSE

It was the Kate and William show,

and then suddenly, this force of nature takes over.

This is a very volatile situation.

Behind the Kensington Palace gates,

divisions grow.

These four young people

suddenly were no longer even on speaking terms.

REPORTER: Harry and Meghan are stepping back from royal life.

It was all unravelling.

Kate's life is suddenly thrown into turmoil

when Harry and Meghan talk with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey.

There was also a story -

did you hear this one about you making Kate Middleton cry?

No, the reverse happened.

She wasn't just going to take this lying down.

One would mess with her at your peril.

The Royal Family suffers a tragic loss.

The death of Queen Elizabeth

particularly changed everything for Princess Kate.

Now she really is queen-in-waiting.

And Kate faces her biggest personal challenge.

There was absolutely no sense of what was to come.

In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London.

The tests after the operation found cancer had been present.

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