Would it be possible to fit the weight of the termination of a long, high-profile relationship in five words? The relationship between the Prince and Princess of Wales had long been a matter of recorded imbalance even before their names became a synonym of all that is stable, and still remains a subject of attention due to the fact that it reads like a personal quandary in the spotlight of the media. Prince William and Catherine also briefly split in 2007 after a few years of being together, a fact that was revisited in several instances as an early indicator in how the couple tackled commitment, scrutiny, and pressures that surround the royal life.
Royal biographer Russell Myers recounts an account which indicated that the relationship started to reach tension at the beginning of 2007, with Catherine becoming more and more unhappy with the direction the relationship was taking. In that narration she made a stand against indecision by a very definite gesture, without insisting on engagement, but a petition of devotion and purpose. Myers cites one of the friends of Catherine who says she felt “miserable, but she certainly wasn’t desperate,” and she “had nothing to lose” in telling her what she needed. This is the same text which puts her stance as a limit, not a demand, and is introduced as the point at which she clarified that in case commitment was not possible, separation was preferable.
It is the news that is made within the walls of palaces, which gives the episode its most stinging quality. William, writes myers, made the step of getting the split confirmed by way of Clarence House, and afterwards told one of the courtiers, who was his seniors, that “at least she is free.” In five words it implies relief on her behalf, as well as a sort of resignation, an effort to put pain in perspective as freedom.
In the same story, the separation is not portrayed as something that happened due to one quarrel but rather described as the result of an entire buildup of tension of how a life with William would be. Myers refers to William as anxious and troubled, as the pressure was “the attention, the constant pressure and expectation,” and paints him as doubtful of the relationship being fair to Catherine as much as it was the right thing to do. That emphasis, on the weight of being seen, as opposed to romance itself, in part explains why the short-lived break is such a tricky element to the history of the couple.
It is also remembered that the reset was noticeable after the two reconciled. Former royal butler Grant Harrold has spoken of serving the couple a private valentine dinner in 2008 during reunion, describing it as “quite special” and stated that the dynamic looked to change more to an ambiguous closeness than more definite one. They would appear to be the “friend of William” in society but upon reaching this point they would be clearly seen to be a couple and he said they would get married after that.
When the couple subsequently talked about their separation, Catherine presented it as surprising and strengthening. During their engagement interview, she added that “it made me a stronger person.” She added that the time off made her realize a few things about herself and that it was very simple to be absorbed in a relationship at a younger age.
Put collectively, the disengagement is rarely handled as scandal so much as it was a test of commitment: a time when devotion, standalone, and the truths of life and a future monarch were brought into the open-air-and neatly encapsulated, in a single sentence, as such.
