Middleton: The Woman Who Could Be Queen

LONDON (Nov. 16) -- It's the stuff of fairy tales: A charming prince falls in love with a beautiful commoner, and eventually the two marry in a spectacular ceremony. Many girls might dream about such a royal romance, but for Catherine Middleton, the fairy tale may be coming true.

When she walks down the aisle to wed Prince William next year, she'll be the first commoner in more than 350 years to marry the second-in-line to the British throne. But while the last one -- Anne Hyde, who wed the future King James II in 1660 -- was the child of a high-ranking royal adviser, Middleton, 28, is the daughter of a couple who made their fortune selling goody bags for kids' parties.

Her parents, Carole and Michael, met while working for British Airways. He was a dispatcher, charged with making sure flights were loaded with the correct cargo, and she was an air hostess. That's led some royal hangers-on to make snobbish gibes about setting "doors to manual." The pair started married life together in the dull London commuter town of Slough, but relocated to the pretty village of Bradfield Southend in southeast England after Carole launched a successful business, Party Pieces, in the late 1980s.


The wealth generated by Party Pieces (which ironically unveiled a range of accessories for brides on a tight budget earlier this year) allowed the Middletons to send Kate and her younger siblings, James and sister Pippa, to some of Britain's top private schools.

Middleton boarded at the prestigious Marlborough College, where she became captain of the hockey club and gained a reputation for studiousness and seriousness. Schoolfriend Jessica Hay told the News of the World, "I never once saw her drunk. Even after our GCSEs [exams taken at 16 in the U.K.] finished, she only drank a couple of glugs of vodka."

There were other boys during those school years, but from an early age it seems as though Middleton had her eyes set on a royal prize. She reportedly had a poster of the young Prince William pinned up above her bed at Marlborough, and Hay told the Mail on Sunday that Middleton once gushed,"There's no one quite like William -- I bet he's really kind. You can just tell by looking at him."

She finally got the chance to meet her handsome prince in 2001, when they started studying history of art at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Middleton apparently grabbed his attention when she modeled a sheer black lace dress over a black bra and bikini bottom during a university fashion show. William, who'd paid $320 for a seat next to the catwalk, was instantly smitten. The following year, the pair moved into a house in the center of St. Andrews with two other male students, and that year Middleton's parents bought her an apartment in the swanky London neighborhood of Chelsea -- conveniently close to William's royal residence in the capital.

They've been a couple ever since, apart from a brief separation in 2007, reportedly caused by Middleton's frustration over William's refusal to propose. (In 2004, he told the press "I don't want to get married until I'm at least 28, or maybe 30.") That breakup led the British tabloid press to nickname her "Waity Kaitie," but within a couple of months they were back together and appearing at public events. And he's 28 now.

Middleton -- who could one day be queen should William ever assume the throne -- is reportedly well liked by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, who almost certainly respect her discretion and cool head. Unlike some other members of the royal family (stand up, Prince Harry), she has never been photographed emerging drunk from a nightclub in the wee hours of the morning, and refuses to give interviews. So far, one of her only recorded comments -- overheard as she talked to a friend -- has been "He's so lucky to be going out with me."

Perhaps inevitably, the British media have now started to ask how Middleton -- who will likely become a royal duchess after the wedding -- compares to William's late mother, Princess Diana. The Telegraph noted that there is a crucial distinction in the way the two women handle the press. While Diana tried to woo the media, freely giving them access to her life, Middleton, perhaps more sensibly, is keen to keep her distance. Prince Charles' lawyer has warned newspaper editors not to hound her and has pursued media outlets that have breached her right to privacy.

But there is a more important difference between the two women and the men in their lives: While Charles and Diana's marriage was arranged -- and ultimately failed because they were so poorly matched -- William and Kate were free to choose each other and are clearly very much in love. And that, one hopes, means their wedding will have a truly fairy-tale ending, one where the royal couple lives happily ever after.