After several together, Prince William and Kate were beginning to take the next steps in their relationship, though they were still not engaged.
So when William was posted to RAF Valley in Anglesey in 2010, Kate decided it was time to move too.
According to Robert Jobson’s new biography of the Princess of Wales, Kate ‘ruled out a long-distance relationship’ and instead the couple rented a house together for £750 a month.
This was a first for a young couple in the Royal Family – an institution that tends to keep things traditional.
Despite rumours swirling around in the media for some time of an impending engagement, William was yet to get down on one knee.
The couple lived in a cottage on the estate of country home Bodorgan Hall in Anglesey.
There, Kate worked from home for her family’s business as a website designer and photographer, while William was a Sea King search and rescue pilot at the RAF base.
Looking back at their time spent there, Jobson wrote how William said it was an ‘immensely special place for us both’.
The secluded location meant the young couple could live relatively normal lives.
Kate enjoyed cooking and baking and she and William often ventured to the local pub together.
Unlike most royals living in the spotlight, Kate even did weekly shopping trips to Waitrose and Morrisons.
They stayed in Wales even after getting married in 2011 and were joined by Lupo, a cocker spaniel given to Kate and William as a wedding present.
Lupo was bred from a dog which was owned by Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.
He lived to spend time with all three of the couple’s children but passed away in 2020.
Prince George spent his very early life living in Anglesey, until the family eventually moved in 2013 to Kensington Palace.
Though a special place for William and Kate, Anglesey could be too remote at times, especially when they had a new-born Prince George.
Kate revealed during a visit to a children’s centre in Cardiff in 2020: ‘It was so isolated, so cut off, I didn’t have my family around me, he was doing night shifts, so if only I’d had a centre like this at a certain time.’
