My front row seat at Kate and William’s St Andrews love story, by the former student friend of the royal couple who tells how their affection and warmth for each other grew amid the dreaming spires
The public has been enthralled by news of the romance between the late Queen’s youngest granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, and her boyfriend Felix da Silva-Clamp.
No wonder, as the relationship – formed during their current studies at St Andrews University – reflects the fairytale romance of the Prince and Princess of Wales during their own time there.
Since the first tentative signs of Kate and William’s relationship emerged, a global audience has devoured stories about their love and family life.
However, while fans had to make do with reading about the relationship secondhand, Laura Warshauer had a front row seat due to her close friendship with the pair.
Whether it was William helping to carry her luggage, Kate comforting her on a night out, or just having a quiet drink together in a cozy corner of a pub, those memories live on.
Her interactions with them are something few can share: teaching Kate to play guitar, buying William her very first Jack Daniel’s and Coke, eating takeout together or laughing and joking on road trips.
After all, it was a pivotal moment in the lives of the young royals — and for Ms. Warshauer, who arrived in 2001 as a fresh-faced 17-year-old in St. Andrews, 5,000 miles from her home in New Jersey.
She said: “I graduated from school a year early and then spent what would have been my last year at high school in St Andrews. It was a beautiful moment in time.
Kate and Wills’ former college friend, Laura Warshauer, has opened up about their love story.
Mrs Warshauer lived with the couple at St Andrews University and even wrote a song for them.
“I ended up getting a front row seat at the beginning of what would become one of the greatest and most iconic love stories of our time. It’s great to see Will and Kate, the same people they were back then, on the world stage.”
And as the world marvels that another royal relationship has taken root in St Andrews, Ms Warshauer believes it fits with the magic of the city.
Giving her own take on Lady Louise’s love story, she said: ‘It’s such a sweet story. My roommate from St. Andrews also met her husband there. It’s a special place.’
Among a slew of photos from her time at university is one that shows William and Mrs. Warshauer sitting next to each other in a group photo, smiling and at ease.
The prince, or Will as Mrs. Warshauer still calls him, was on the same floor of the St. Salvator’s student house, while Kate was on the floor below.
She remembers preparing dinner – her mother’s lasagna recipe and her aunt’s toffee – for William and some of his friends, and also chatting with him over meals in the “Harry Potter-style” dining room .
She said: “Will lived down the hall with two of his friends from Eton. Kate lived one floor below.
“I met them the same week they met. I was struck by how normal Will was. You could talk about anything – the most mundane things.
“When he returned from a trip home to New Jersey with my large luggage, Will grabbed my bag and took it to the dorm.
“We were all trying to find our way. Even if you were at a boarding school like Eton, people were still in a new environment.’
She added: ‘I remember on my birthday in December I made dinner for everyone and Will brought me a present – a teddy from Tesco.
‘It’s a seal with a blue backpack with stars on it. It’s in a place where I can see it every day and think, “How cool.” It’s cute.’
Ms Warshauer, 41, said Kate and William hit it off immediately and fell for each other months before the now well-documented fashion show in March 2002, when William saw Kate modeling a pair of sheer briefs and described her as “hot”.
She said: ‘We went to a party in a castle. It was a Harry Potter theme and they held a charity auction where people bid to win a date. Will offer £200 to win a date with Kate.’
Although Ms. Warshauer doesn’t know what they ended up doing with their date, she remembers that Kate’s reaction was effortlessly cool: She showed that she was unfazed by titles and comfortable with him.
This easy-going nature between them was evident at another party where Kate rescued William from an awkward encounter.
The Prince and Princess of Wales shared many fond memories of university in Fife.
Madam Lady Louise Windsor and Felix Da Silva-Clamp reflect their fairytale romance.
Mrs Warshauer said: ‘It was early on when Will and Kate met. This girl talked to Will and he was polite, but it was clear he needed a way out.
‘Suddenly Kate comes across the room, throws her arms around him and makes sure he can turn to the other girl and say, ‘I’m sorry, I have a girlfriend.’
“And then he turned to Kate and silently said the words, ‘Thank you.’ I remember thinking at that moment that no one but Kate could have done that.
“They had just met, but it was clear they had a connection.”
And her memories of Kate are as fond now as they were when they were young.
She said: ‘Kate noticed I was upset one night when we were out. I walked in front so people couldn’t see that I was upset, and she came up and put her arm around me. You remember these moments.”
A photo of Kate and Ms. Warshauer, taken at the town’s camera store in 2001, shows their friendship.
They had gone there to find the equipment they needed to film an audition that Ms. Warshauer wanted to submit for a show on the American broadcaster CBS.
She said: ‘As you know, Kate loves photography, she loved it at the time. Even in her student room I remember the beautiful photos.
“She and I went to the camera store together to get everything we needed and then she filmed the audition for me.”
About a decade later, Kate found herself on the other side of the lens when she and William married at Westminster Abbey in April 2011, with the eyes of 162 million viewers worldwide glued to them. That popularity dominates.
In November, Ms. Warshauer, a singer-songwriter once signed to major label Island Def Jam, shared a photo on social media of herself and Kate — taken at a 19th birthday party during their stay in St. Andrews — as a message of support. for the princess after her treatment for cancer.
The childhood sweethearts kissed on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after they married in 2011.
In the caption she wrote, “Sending love to Kate Middleton, the future Queen of England and my college roommate!”
She added, “She is the kindest, most caring, down-to-earth, genuine person, and it’s incredible to see her shine so brightly and inspire the world with her compassion and courage.”
It wasn’t long before the post was viewed more than 600,000 times and she was once again in the global media spotlight.
Ms Warshauer said: ‘The interest is even greater now than the first time.’
She reminisces about the party where the photo was taken, recalling that she had just been to Paris to visit her sister who was studying there and recalling how their father also traveled to meet them.
The outfit she throws on in no time is one she bought during that French adventure.
Even that trip to Paris had begun with a new cherished moment with William and Kate.
She said: ‘Kate and I were going to take a taxi to the airport together, but then Will gave her a lift so I got in. I love how he offered her a ride and so I had to go.
“It was so cool to arrive in Paris and say, ‘Guess who gave me a ride to the airport?’
‘The radio was on and Will said, ‘Laura, you can sing on the radio.’ It was like popular music. It was sweet that he made that reference to me as a singer.”
By then, Ms. Warshauer had already begun her musical career and was full of ambition.
Some of the pieces she wrote during her time at St. Andrews earned her her first recording contract with Island Def Jam.
One song – titled To Will and Kate, Meet Me at Exit 109 – paints a picture of a cheerful couple participating in a huge foam fight in the quad, drinking wine from plastic cups from Woolworths and sitting on the floor to eat. lasagna with fellow students.
Her music has been featured in advertising campaigns for Ralph Lauren and Motorola, in addition to the global video game franchise Just Dance and shows streaming on Netflix, Amazon and Fox.
She has also hung out with numerous celebrities, with Jay Z telling her she was “fantastically talented” at a Grammy Awards after-party.
She also met music legends like Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith.
Ms. Warshauer has now written a workbook for others who want to go their own way, titled My Creativity is Killing Me, which she says helps people take back control of their creative careers.
It is her own experience that comes to the fore, with Ms. Warshauer saying, “I have lived through the astonishing highs and the crashing lows of the entertainment industry.”
And looking back now, she realizes that William’s encouragement is one of the things that has boosted her self-confidence over the years.
She said, “I have taken those words with me into the moments of my future.”