William’s first love: How the Prince of Wales and Ian Farquhar’s singer daughter Rose dated after he finished his A Levels at Eton and remained close friends – and the future King even went to her wedding
These days, Prince William is rarely discussed without mentioning his wife Catherine.
The Prince and Princess of Wales will celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary next month, after more than twenty years together.
But shortly before meeting Kate, while studying at St. Andrews, William was in a relationship with beauty Rose Farquhar.
Now in her forties, the singer-songwriter Rose is widely regarded as the prince’s first serious girlfriend.
The pair dated in 2000, after meeting at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire after the future king completed his A-levels at Eton.
Mrs Farquhar stunned in a white dress and fur shoulder details as she tied the knot with George Gemmell at St Mary the Virgin church in Gloucestershire. In December William attended the wedding (left)
In 2016, Rose, who studied musical theater and acting in New York City, failed to make it past the audition stage of ITV’s The Voice.
Rose is the youngest daughter of Captain Ian Farquhar, former master of the Beaufort Hunt, who has died aged 78.
Mr Farquhar was a renowned hunter and old friend of King Charles. He died on the Highgove estate.
He was also an equerry to the Queen Mother and even served in the Queen’s Own Hussars, a cavalry regiment of the British Army.
Mr Farquhar was also close to Queen Camilla and lived on the king’s estate in a rented farmhouse for many years. It is said he died there on Wednesday morning.
Sergeant Andrew Parker Bowles, Camilla’s first husband and friend, told the Mail’s Richard Eden that the situation was “very sad” and that he had been in poor health in recent months.
He described his friend as “wild as a hawk in his youth, but always a lot of fun.” Parker Bowles added that ‘The Captain’, as Farquhar was known, ‘will be judged by history as one of the great Master of Hounds’.
William will now likely be around to support his father and longtime girlfriend Rose.
Despite their romance faltering, Rose and William have always remained on good terms and have often seen each other at society weddings over the years thanks to their mutual friends.
In 2022, William attended Rose’s wedding to George Gemmel – the stepson of Barbadian construction magnate Sir Charles Williams and an aspiring veterinarian.
Captain Ian Farquhar’s youngest daughter Rose, 39, a singer, had a brief relationship with William in 2000
Rose Farquhar is still friends with Prince William and attended her wedding to George Gemmell in 2022
After dating William, Rose went to New York, where she studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute.
She appeared on The Voice in Britain in 2016, singing for Boy George and will.iam, and took part in the reality show ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?’ in 2006, which searched for an actress to play Maria Von Trapp in the West End production of The Sound of Music.
After the program, she received a BBC Fame Academy Award to study musical theater and acting in New York City.
Today she works for the Duchess of Rutland’s Belvoir Castle in a business development role in December 2022.
Still in society circles, she attended the wedding of William and Kate in 2011, but also that of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan in 2018.
Farquhar and Charles became further intertwined when Prince William briefly dated Rose Farquhar in 2000 after completing his A-levels at Eton.
The couple met at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire and she was described at the time as the Prince of Wales’s ‘first love’.
William and Rose went on romantic picnics together in the Gloucestershire countryside before he met Kate at St Andrews University in Scotland.
Rose is widely regarded as the prince’s first serious girlfriend. He subsequently dated several women at university before meeting his current wife Catherine, Princess of Wales in 2003.
Farquhar lived on the King’s Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire, where he rented a farm for many years
When the singer tied the knot last December, Prince William was among the guests toasting the happy couple’s nuptials.
He discreetly slipped in through the back door of St Mary the Virgin Church in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, to witness her wedding to her new prince charming: aspiring vet George Gemmell, the stepson of the late Barbadian construction magnate Sir Charles Williams .
Her father told DailyMail at the time about her daughter’s future groom: ‘He couldn’t be a more charming son-in-law for the future.
‘The Gemmells have been friends of ours for years. We are absolutely thrilled with it.”