Prince William and Kate Middleton are celebrating 13 happy years of marriage together.
The couple wed at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011 after an eight-year relationship.
And to mark the occasion they’ve released a new photograph taken on their wedding day.
The stunning black and white photograph shows the couple beaming at the camera in their wedding attire.
It was shared with the simple caption ’13 years ago today!’ and names the photographer as Millie Pilkington.
Since tying the knot, they have been focusing on their royal duties, having officially become Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as travelling the world together and supporting various good causes.
They’ve also had three children; Prince George, ten, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five.
Here’s a look back at the couple’s journey from loved-up university students to senior royals.
William and Kate first meet
University student Kate Middleton first caught the attention of Prince William, then 19, when she strode down the catwalk in a sheer dress for a charity fashion show.
In their first year of university in 2001, William and Kate lived a few doors apart at St Salvator’s hall of residence at St Andrews in Fife and became friendly, socialising together and playing tennis.
They later moved into a house together with other flatmates in a secluded rented cottage outside the town.
They were rumoured to have become an item around Christmas 2003, after Kate split from another student she was dating, Rupert Finch.
William said in his engagement interview: ‘When I first met Kate I knew there was something very special about her.’
Their relationship flourished during romantic weekends alone on the Queen’s Balmoral estate, at a cottage given to William and his younger brother Prince Harry.
But Kate stayed out of the limelight and didn’t attend high-profile royal events alongside her boyfriend.
In April 2007, the pair briefly split but were back together a few months later. Kate was a VIP guest in the royal box for William and Harry’s Concert for Diana in memory of their mother, and was seen canoodling with William at the after-show party.
A fairytale wedding
William proposed to Kate during a romantic holiday to Kenya, when he smuggled his late mother’s sapphire and diamond engagement ring in his backpack to surprise his long-term girlfriend.
The couple tied the knot on April 29 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London.
Their grand wedding featured two dresses, two receptions, a carriage procession, flypasts and two kisses on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
The wedding was watched by an estimated 2 billion people around the world.
The Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who married the couple, said of the day: ‘They didn’t seem unduly nervous. Yes, as it happens, a couple billion people were watching, but they were still talking to one another, from the centre, where it matters.’
A royal family
William and Kate launched into married life.
In the year after their wedding, the couple toured Singapore, Malaysia and Tuvalu together as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Then, in December 2012, they announced that Kate was pregnant with their first child.
Prince George was born on July 22 2013 at St Mary’s Hospital, London.
Just under two years later, on May 2 2015, the family welcomed their second child, Princess Charlotte.
And on 23 April 2018, Prince Louis was born.
The family live in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor with their two English Cocker Spaniels, Lupo and Orla.
They moved to the cosy rural cottage in 2022 so that the children could attend school at Lambrook.
Power couple in action
The Princess of Wales has now spent more than a decade as an HRH and she’s been described as a ‘model of what a future queen should be’ since joining the House of Windsor.
She has focused her charity work on early years’ support, children’s mental health, the visual arts and promoting the benefits of outdoor life.
The couple have taken numerous official visits together over their 13 years of marriage, balancing raising a family with their busy royal schedule.
A new era
When King Charles II ascended the throne in 2022, William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The title of the Prince of Wales is reserved for the first in line for the throne, and will pass to Prince George when William becomes king.
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The title doesn’t come with any specific duties, although William said he is learning Welsh as part of the new role.
MORE: William and Kate cuddle in loved-up pictures to mark 10th wedding anniversary
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