Mail’s Royal Editor recalls the moving moment she caught her first sight of Kate’s sparkler  

Kate & William 10 magical years: The story of their romance and marriage as you’ve never read – or seen – before 

They fell in love… and we fell in love with them: … and now, today and next Saturday, Weekend is celebrating the tenth anniversary of William and Kate’s magical Westminster Abbey wedding with two glorious special magazines. 

Brimming with fresh accounts from close friends and those who played vital roles in their story… 50 pages of dazzling photos, including many never seen before… enchanting new insights into what brought them together 20 years ago, how their friendship blossomed into secret courtship, that spectacular wedding day – and their blissful married life with three gorgeous children… So break out the bunting – and enjoy the full, heart-warming tale of the most touching royal romance of our generation.

It took at least a minute or two, during my first-ever chat with Catherine Middleton, for me to clock the ring on her finger.

The dazzling gem was practically on my eye level given our difference in height. But in my defence I’d just rushed back in to work on my maternity leave, leaving my four-month-old baby for the first time for this most special of announcements – the engagement of Catherine to Prince William.

It was a surreal experience for a brand new mother, quietly talking to the pair with a small group of royal correspondents and photographers over a cup of tea before the official photocall at St James’s Palace. 

Despite reporting on Kate for a number of years I had only ever seen her at a distance across a polo field. In the flesh she was tawny, tanned and flawless, towering over this exhausted reporter in her vertiginous heels and that famous blue Issa wrap dress.

When I did finally spot that iconic sapphire and diamond ring, first worn by William’s late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, I was unable to help myself.

‘Is that…?’ I blurted out.

Catherine smiled shyly, yet proudly. ‘Yes, it is.’

William came over, protectively, and explained how he had wanted his adored mother to be part of such an important event in their lives.

I think it is fair to say that many there were quietly moved.

It was a measure of the prince’s determination to keep his relationship and engagement private that word hadn’t slipped out about the choice of ring.

And over the following weeks and months, as planning for the wedding really began to kick into action, the pair continued to do things on their terms.

‘Right at the start of proceedings William went to his grandmother and made clear that he didn’t want his and Catherine’s wedding to be anything as formal as his mother and father’s. And both she and the Prince of Wales agreed with him,’ one of the planners explains. 

‘William wasn’t the direct heir to the throne, he didn’t need any of the extra pomp. So Her Majesty told him to rip up the rule book and start from scratch to create the wedding that he and Kate wanted. 

‘That decision was crucial and really set the tone for everyone. It made it essentially a wedding for family and friends that was, nevertheless, going to be shared with the world.’

After being appointed the Mail’s royal correspondent just weeks after the couple’s relationship was first confirmed in 2004, the engagement was news I had long expected.

Prince William explained the jewel was chosen to include his mother in the important event in their lives. Pictured: A close up of Kate Middleton’s engagement ring as she poses for photographs in the State Apartments with her fiance Prince William

And before I’d gone off to have my son earlier in 2010, confidential conversations with Palace officials had left me in no doubt that it was something they were imminently preparing for.

But no one, not even his closest aides, had any idea for sure until William came into their office at St James’s Palace at precisely 9am on 16 November and revealed that he had popped the question during a holiday in Kenya the previous month.

The first to know on that morning were William’s then private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton (so close is he to the future king that he was named one of Prince George’s godparents), and long-standing personal secretary, Helen Asprey.

The news was then relayed to his press secretary, Miguel Head, and to Prince Charles’s communications team at Clarence House, led by Paddy Harverson and Patrick Harrison.

‘Everyone just clicked into action within minutes,’ one insider present on that historic morning recalls. ‘We had plans in place ready to go. Everyone was buzzing, but they knew what they had to do.’ 

Many of those people had been around when William first met Kate at the University of St Andrews at the start of the previous decade.

It was when Kate memorably modelled a see-through dress in a charity catwalk show in 2002, during their freshers’ year, that they realised she was a ‘significant person’ in his life, I am told.

One senior official who went up to St Andrews to meet the couple in the early months of their romance recently told me, ‘What was obvious from the beginning was just how grounded she was.

‘William didn’t want her involved in the whole Palace machinery but he was clearly protective of her and wanted Kate to know there were people who could help if things got out of hand. What happened to his late mother had clearly affected him deeply [in terms of the press attention] and he was determined that history wouldn’t repeat itself.’

Over the following years, sources say, William made clear that if and when he decided to take the relationship to the next stage, it would be a decision for him alone.

‘He laid down the ground rules very early on,’ one remembers. ‘It was clear that this wouldn’t be run like previous royal engagements, with everything done by committee. 

‘He knew we needed to have plans in place but wanted to make important decisions about his future like any other normal person, without any interference whatsoever.’

Surprisingly, staff tell me, William was also very much an equal player when it came to organising their big day (apart from Kate’s Alexander McQueen dress, of course).

Rebecca who was among the 1,900 guests who attended the ceremony in the Abbey said the atmosphere was truly joyful and very much that ‘family wedding.’ Pictured, 16 November 2010

‘In quite a modern way, both wanted to be equally involved and would dip in and out of meetings,’ one recalls. ‘And William had as much to say as his future wife. It was very collaborative. Even the Prince of Wales got involved and helped Kate to choose the music for the day. 

‘It was actually rather lovely to see how excited he was and pleased he could help. And because William and Kate had such a clear idea of what they wanted, everything ran remarkably smoothly.’

Before the wedding, members of the Palace wedding team accompanied the couple to Westminster Abbey for their final rehearsal.

It was a proudly moving experience for all those involved.

One former staff member who was present tells me, ‘The Abbey was huge and silent, with just the key players present. 

‘It was the most surreal experience going from the frenzy of the crowds already camping outside to the cool, spiritual tranquillity of the Abbey. There was a real sense of nervous anticipation from everybody but the couple themselves, funnily enough.

‘I remember, though, looking at Mr and Mrs Middleton and, particularly, Kate’s brother, James, who was nervously preparing for his reading. They looked so proud and happy. 

‘But you could also see in their eyes a slight trepidation. This small feeling that they were losing a daughter and sister, whose life would never be the same again. I really felt for them in that moment.’

On 29 April I was among the 1,900 guests who attended the ceremony in the Abbey (although my invitation was very much in a professional capacity), arriving several hours ahead of time for security checks and taking my seat alongside a small coterie of Commonwealth representatives to the side of the congregation.

The atmosphere was truly joyful and very much that ‘family wedding with bells on’ the couple had hoped for six months earlier.

Aides, both past and present, are firmly convinced this is in no small way down to Kate and her cool, calm confidence.

From the moment she stepped out to a sea of flashes on that first day at St James’s Palace, proudly clutching William’s arm, she simply didn’t put a foot wrong.

‘She was never overly friendly, but was always very humble,’ a former staffer recalls. 

‘When she phoned or put her head round the door her first words were always, “I’m sorry to bother you.” That was always her opening line. And the next would invariably be, “Am I doing OK?”

‘She wanted to listen and to learn. She wanted to do things right.

‘And William was always there, looking out for her. They were a team from the moment they stepped out in front of the cameras together.

‘And they still are.’ 

I’m not very good at this… you are, you are! 

Unseen outtakes from ITV’s engagement interview with Tom Bradby, available on Tik Tok, along with others on YouTube, add a new dimension to the event. With fluffy hair and a wide grin, William leads his fiancée into a room dripping with pomp and formality.

Kate trails in some way behind and is a little shy. She sits demurely next to William, knees modestly clamped together, on a sofa heavy with plumped cushions, one of which thrusts itself into her back. ‘Can I move this cushion?’ she asks tentatively before the interview starts. 

‘Be comfortable. We could be here a while,’ William advises. It is when the interview is over that her carefully cultivated decorum slips. 

William says to her, ‘Aaand breathe…’ as she leans forward and clutches the top of her Issa wrap dress. She laughs and says, ‘I’m not very good at this,’ to which William responds, ‘You are, you are!’ She throws her head back, then leans forward again, still wrapped in the euphoria of having completed her first big royal appearance.

Before the interview Kate has trouble with a cushion, and when it’s over William tells her to breathe easy

Kate throws her head back with sheer relief – she’s survived her first royal appearance

Moira Petty