memories of a fairy tale turned tragedy. >> trying to get away from the paparazzi. >> trying to learn from lessons of the past and looking forward to seeing what the future holds. >> reporter: will this time be different? april 29th, 2011, westminster abbey, the location of the much anticipated wedding of prince william and catherine middleton. ironically, it was this abbey where his mother, princess diana, was laid to rest in 1997. and in the years between that memorial and this celebration, the legacy of diana and the tragedy of her life were critical in prince william's journey to the altar. >> i think she's probably never far from his mind. i think he thinks about her every day. >> jules knight says he's been friends with prince william for more than a decade. did he give any inklings about the relationship that he had

with his mother? >> i think it was evident to everybody that they were incredibly close. he's mentioned on a number of occasions that she was never far from his mind. when you're going through these sorts of rites of passage where you're growing up and you don't have that incredibly important figure in your life, it must be incredibly difficult because you think oh, i wish my mum was here for that. >> rites of passage that were not easy given the difficulty of growing up in a broken home. >> he went through the pain of the divorce. he then went through the agony of his mother's death, and it must have had an incredibly profound effect on the way he then wanted to conduct his own relationships. >> reporter: despite diana's best efforts, her sons grew up in the same type of contentious

home that she did. diana was just 7, half william's age, when her family was also shattered by a bitter divorce and nasty custody battle. so this is the room where diana was born? >> yes, this is where diana was born. >> reporter: mary clark was diana's nanny. >> she said i will never, ever marry unless i'm really in love. because if you are not in love you're going to get divorced and i never intend to be divorced. >> she never had a happy centered home life. i think she spent all of her adult life searching for that. >> reporter: christopher anderson, who's written several books about the royal family, says that in diana's search for a happy home life she had a unique confidant. william. >> as a small boy william witnessed a lot of this and william became sort of the fixer. here's this little boy when his mother locks herself in the bathroom after an argument with charles and she's sobbing and

here is 7-year-old little william slipping tissues under the door and saying "i hate to see you sad, mummy." he was always somebody who was just very, very sensitive to other people's feelings, so he walks into the situation with kate, he meets kate, and kate exposes him to a happy family for the first time. >> stability? >> stability. >> reporter: a happiness and normalcy that diana was desperate for her sons to find. her close friend lana marks remembers. >> she wanted to have them experience as much of a normal life or exposure to a normal life as is possible. she also wanted to make sure they shared enormous love. >> william! william! william. >> but finding love would not be easy for a prince, the heir apparent to the british monarchy. william lived with a prying camera lens keenly focused on his every move. a spotlight that followed him

from a very early age. >> i remember william's first ever day at his pre-prep school in north london. >> ken north was diana and the prince's bodyguard for more than seven years. >> i said when we get to school there will be lots of photographers. he said i don't like photographers in a sort of very williamesque way and we arrived at the school and there outside the school, about 120 or 130 photographers waiting for william's first day at school. what she was trying to say to william on his first day at school, you've got to live with this. you're going to get this for the rest of your life. he now knows that. >> princess diana took her children to school. >> reporter: it would be something that william would learn to live with. >> princess diana has died. >> reporter: that is, until his mother's death. >> the french police criminal unit is going to --

>> reporter: an accident that many, including william -- >> paparazzi and photographers following princess diana's car at high speed. >> reporter: -- blamed on the aggressive paparazzi. >> i think he drew a picture of i don't like them and wasn't prepared even to debate the subject. >> reporter: not long after the crash, the palace and the press forged a gentleman's agreement giving both william and his brother harry the privacy to grow up. the world got quick glimpses, though, all carefully choreographed by the palace. but aside from that, william seemed to shun the media. and with that distance he was able to grow up and sow his wild oats. >> he began dating some of the more beautiful titled ladies. he tried an online romance with britney spears at one point that never really got off the ground.

>> it was in the year between eaton and going to university in scotland that william worked in kenya and met the woman many say was his first love, jeka craig. >> they became romantically involved. he staged a mock engagement. it was a kind of tongue-in-cheek kind of thing. but he asked her to marry him jokingly at the foot of mt. kenya. >> reporter: a place that will ironically play a key role in his engagement to kate middleton. but that later. first, william would have to meet kate, and that would happen at st. andrews university. why would he go there? i mean, all the other royals hadn't gone there. >> i think its wan tempt to get away from the public eye to some extent. i met him as soon as we arrived. and incredibly quickly this group of friends formed. >> reporter: among his small, intimate group of friends, a young woman whose background was anything but royal. >> i actually went bright red when i met you and sort of

scuttled off. >> ahead, when william met kate. the awkward meeting that almost never happened. [ female announcer ] you can make macaroni & cheese without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. fight both fast with new tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food.

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fall 2001, st. andrews, scotland. kate middleton met her prince. >> i actually went bright red when i met you and sort of scuttled off, feeling very shy about -- about meeting you. >> not long after william invited a number of friends to his dormitory room. she did this kind of -- automatically did this awkward curtsy, and he reacted by instantly spilling his drink on himself because he realized -- he would do things like this to put people at ease. and from that point on they became friendly. >> in contrast to william's friends, his friends were aristocratic with considerable royal connections, connections his mother knew throughout her life. princess diana grew up in the shadows of the royal family.

her grandmother was a confidant of the queen. diana was an aristocrat through and through. kate was what the british called a commoner. she grew up a world away from country estates and buckingham palace. >> it's in an area of outstanding natural beauty. >> reporter: john hailey is an innkeeper near kate's hometown, bucklebury berkshire. a small sleepy village 55 miles west of london. he met the middletons 14 years ago when they first came into his pub, the old boot inn. >> they are very nice, just a very nice family, down to earth. very easygoing, relaxed. a lovely family. >> they are not wealthy. >> solidly middle class. >> solidly middle class, hard working folks. >> carol goldsmith and michael middleton met while working for a british airline. they married in 1980. kate was born in 1982. her early years were as ordinary as you can imagine. baptized at a picturesque chapel.

she was a brownie and liked to perform in plays and musicals. a simple life in the quiet english countryside. friends say the closest the middletons got to the royals was watching stories about them on tv. >> a marriage that captivated not just the people -- >> when charles married diana in 1981, like the rest of the planet earth, they were glued to the set and watching every minute of it. of course, carol dreamed someday of having her daughter enter that life, but it seemed an impossible dream, i'm sure. >> impossible, that is, until carol middleton, a stay-at-home mother, stumbled onto a very lucrative career. >> she had a talent for making goody bags for children's parties, and she really spun it into this internet empire. the family quickly moved up the ladder. within a couple of years they were making millions of dollars a year. hence kate was sent to some of the most expensive and prestigious schools. >> kate was 13 years old when she arrived at this exclusive school in the english countryside called down house, a

school that catered to nobility and aristocracy. when she stepped foot on campus, she was an outgoing girl who loved sports and learning. but soon that all changed. >> she became the victim of the mean girls in the school. there was malicious gossip about her background because she was one of the very few girls from a working-class background attending that school. >> many say kate became miserable, shy and withdrawn, much like diana when she first went to boarding school. >> she was very shy, so i didn't really notice her. >> penny walker, diana's music teacher at the west heath school, remembers. >> it was an awful lot of unrest in her home life. that often affects children in their work. >> were her bad grades troubling to her? >> oh, i think immensely troubling, and i think she tried really hard, but i think her concentration was elsewhere.

>> on what? >> on family. >> with absentee parents, diana was forced to struggle through on her own. many say that the insecurity fostered in these years would stay with her for the rest of her life. it was very different for kate middleton, though. her parents immediately switched their daughter to another nearby boarding school, marlborough college. and the lessons she learned would make her stronger. >> marlborough was a good school. i was there from the age of 13 to 18. >> olli baines was a student with kate at marlborough and now a performer with the singing group blake. >> boarding schools, if they're not happy, are miserable. there's very, very few in between. >> and kate's first day at marlborough wouldn't be easy. >> all the boys are on the other side of the dining hall. and they hold up pieces of paper. and on those pieces of paper are numbers. she asked what's that all about? well, the boys always rate the

girls on their looks. >> what was her number? >> no guy rated her above a 12. 2. >> 2 out of 10? >> 2 out of 10. >> carol middleton stepped in. >> she got her combing her chestnut hair. she got her wearing makeup for the first time. so when she reappeared in school it was a new person. >> kate became one of the most popular girls here at marlborough, a tremendous athlete, a serious student. but she also had a reputation as having a bit of a wild side. one friend says kate frequently liked to moon the boys from her dorm room window, and it earned her the nickname kate middlebum. >> it was a reasonably happy school. it was great fun. and she was -- she was a very pretty girl then. >> yet kate didn't date much. and despite her denials, many who knew her then insist she set her sights higher than prep school classmates. >> i've talked to too many friends who said yes, she always had this picture over her bed in her dormitory. it was a picture of william. so she did have her sights celt

on him. >> eerily reminiscent of another young girl, decades earlier. >> she was always known to adore prince charles. and her little bedroom cubicle had pictures of him all over it. >> while diana knew charles from the royal circles they both traveled in, kate didn't know william at all. but she nearly had a chance in the winter of 2000. after her graduation from marlborough both kate and william traveled to chile with the same youth volunteer group. but it turns out at different times. malcolm sutherland was their expedition leader. >> i think it's incredible for a start that the fact that william and kate didn't even know each other. >> they just missed each other. on two separate trips just weeks apart they helped build buildings, teach english, even clean toilets in the same small town in chile. >> kate's tough. she's a sort of sporty, fit lady. she knew what she was about. she knew how to look after

herself. >> while kate missed william that winter, she then started preparing for university, and this time she wouldn't miss her prince. >> originally kate wanted to go to edinburgh university. when it was announced by the palace that william would be attending st. andrews university, enrollment among women at st. andrew's jumped overnight by over 40%. >> clearly carol was a very hands-on, present, watchful mother. >> in kate's case did she nudge her toward a relationship with the future king of england? yes. and why not? because by putting her in proximity to william magic happened. >> a close friendship takes a passionate turn, when we come back. of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat.

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it's a night that rocked st. andrews university every year. ♪ a night that eight years ago shook up prince william and kate middleton's friendship forever. march 2002. the annual charity fashion show called "don't walk." a lingerie show.

the models were nearly naked. kate was no exception. jules knight was in the audience that night with prince william. >> she looked great. >> reporter: were people stunned? >> definitely. she wasn't what you'd call a risque girl. she was a pretty safe bet, quite conservative really in the way that she dressed and the way that she acted. and here she was not wearing that much, looking amazing. >> and all the guys all of a sudden realized, wow. >> kate's hot. >> kate's hot. and he really wanted to start something. that was the point at which he pursued her romantically, and very quickly. >> up until that night william and kate's friendship had been purely platonic. prince william remembers fondly. >> we were friends for over a year first. and it just sort of blossomed from then on. >> reporter: they bonded over their shared major of art history, early morning swims in the campus pool, and their sense of humor. >> she's got a really nice sense

of humor. which kind of helps me. because i've got a very dry sense of humor. it was good fun. we had a really good laugh. and then things happened. >> you'd often see them sitting on a radiator at a house party and he had a bottle of j.d. by him and was sort of drinking away and able to sort of conduct their relationship and get to know each other as friends. >> reporter: life with prince william was quite the party. >> i remember, we walked out of a pub, we were quite drunk, and we were all walking down the street. there were about ten of us. i saw a pellet gun on the floor. so i picked it up and started waving it around. and then he grabbed it out of my jacket pocket. and he was like holding it in the air. and suddenly even in my drunk state i was like this is probably not a good idea. what does this look like from behind? and i remember looking behind and there are these bodyguards looking incredibly aj taitd, like what the hell is going on? >> reporter: but kate always managed to stay in control. richard denning was another friend at st. andrews.

>> i wouldn't say that she was a particularly flighty, overexcitable type person. very measured. very controlled. that is perfect. because you don't want someone that's going to be falling out on the king's road face down wasted after a session. >> reporter: william came to rely on kate in good times and in bad. >> he had all the same stresses and pressures as every student does. >> for some people -- >> reporter: charles warren was one of william's lecturers at st. andrews. >> he was panicking about approaching deadlines and struggling with some of it like most of our students do. >> that first year was really tough for william. he felt completely isolated from his friends and his family. he was so desperately unhappy that after the first year he was

determined to leave, and it really was kate who talked him into staying. she said, look, we'll both stick it out together and if at the end of sophomore year we feel the same way we'll both leave. >> reporter: they both stuck it out, though. and in the end of their second year moved into this flat together with a couple of their friends. >> it blossomed from there. we saw more of each other and hung out a bit more and did stuff. >> you liked my cooking. >> your cooking was all right. it got better. >> reporter: and it was in the spring of that year living together, 2002, that kate hit the lingerie runway, and william saw his close friend in a very different light. they quickly became more than just roommates. >> being friends with one another is a massive advantage. >> reporter: the idea of a prince living with his girlfriend was unheard of for the house of windsor. diana was just 19 when she started dating prince charles. she lived here in a flat in london.

he lived miles away in the palace. the entire courtship lasted just five months, and once they were engaged diana was whisked away to the queen mother's palace. >> she lost her independence. she would send little notes like that. >> reporter: dr. james colthurst, a close friend of diana's, remembers how abandoned she felt. despite her aristocratic roots, she never seemed at home in the palace. was she incredibly lonely? >> very lonely. >> did she tell you that? >> absolutely. i think she wanted the prince to talk to her. she was expecting some romantic calls and things like that, and i think there was very little communication. i think she found that very difficult. if that's how it was, fine, she will bite her lip and hope it gets better after the wedding. >> reporter: it didn't. and no one knew that better than prince william. he would do it differently. he would get to know kate and her family intimately. in those early dating days, william would travel to kate's

home in the english countryside often. >> he started visiting the middletons' home in bucklebury and he saw indeed it was possible to have a happy family and a happy marriage in the middletons, and i think that's a big reason that kate is the one. >> she's not an aristocrat. she's not somebody who has grown up in a castle or a palace. she's sort of pretty normal really, and i think that he loves going for dinner around the house in berkshire, and he loves being part of something which is actually standard. >> reporter: local pub owner and middleton friend john hailey remembers when william would come to town. >> he just used to come in and book a table or just walk in and people would notice him but they'd be left alone. >> reporter: but soon, that would all change. when the world discovered these roommates were more than just friends. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms.

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i'm don lemon. here are your headlines this hour. tahrir square is packed with people as egyptians celebrate the conviction and life sentence handed down to former president hosni mubarak. that celebration turned to anger when word spread that several of mubarak's former aides were acquitted. 84-year-old mubarak was declared responsible for the deaths of nearly 850 people during the egyptian revolution last year. the biggest wildfire in the state of new mexico has ever experienced is raging at this hour.

right now just 15% of the blaze is contained. it already has devoured 354 square miles. that's larger than the city of chicago. smoke is forcing people to stay indoors because of bad air quality. those are your headlines this hour. i'm don lemon. keeping you informed, kren, the most trusted name in news. the swiss alps. a holiday hot spot for the royal family. march 2004, prince william was about to let the world in on a secret. >> the thing is, they were sharing a house in st. andrews. we suspected, but you never know. >> reporter: for several years journalists like the "sun's"

royal photographer arthur edwards were left to wonder if william and kate middleton were a couple despite denials from the palace and prince williams, but that all changed on that spring day. with paparazzi in tow, william took to the slopes with his new love. >> and we discovered that they were, in fact, an item. >> reporter: it was ironically on the ski slopes exactly ten years earlier that princess diana had begged the paparazzi for privacy for her boys. >> as a parent, could i ask you to respect my children's space. >> reporter: now, a decade later, her grown-up son took charge. friend jules knight. was that sort of an intentional -- >> absolutely. >> -- we're going to let people know? >> of course. if you take somebody skiing at the place your family has been going for however many years it's a pretty clear sign he's saying to everybody this is the girl in my life.

>> reporter: newspapers ran with the story. headlines like this -- "finally, wills gets a girl." and for the first time the palace didn't deny the romance. the couple would retreat behind the protective walls of st. andrews. for the next year they continued to live together, now without other roommates. they quietly spent more time with the royal family, and it became clear to many that despite her commoner upbringing kate fit in, perhaps even better than princess diana. >> kate has shown absolutely no hesitation to accompany them on their hunting trips in balmoral, to go fishing. diana could hardly tolerate going to the polo matches of charles's but kate has never missed a polo match of william's. >> reporter: june 2005. the private life william and kate had enjoyed for nearly four years came to an end. >> william of wales.

>> the couple graduated from st. andrews, left their safe protected world behind, and plunged into a world of prying paparazzi. >> catherine middleton. >> there were more photographers than i had ever seen in my life, from around the world, like 100, and the noise of the cameras going off and the flashes was intense. it was just, you know, unbelievable. and i think everyone realized that the game was over because the protection they had enjoyed had finished. >> reporter: in the months after graduation the press followed them everywhere, to weddings, to polo matches. there were rumors of a breakup. fleet street was on fire, and in january 2006 it only got worse. william began his royal military training in the english countryside, leaving kate alone in london. >> he was beginning his military career in essence around a lot

of other young men who were going to make their lives in the military. and so there was a lot of heavy drinking going on. there was a lot of partying going on. >> reporter: was he faithful to her with the drinking and the partying? >> yes. yes, he was. there were some indiscreet moments in bars when girls would come up to him, and there would be kissing. she handled it well. she wasn't happy with it but she didn't end the relationship that they had. >> it was probably difficult on their relationship. she was having that incredible scrutiny from the press. she'd walk out of her flat and be besieged by 20, 30 photographers. and that really couldn't go on. >> it was just chaos. they'd follow her to work. they'd stop her in traffic with flashing through her window while she was trying to drive her car. sit on the wall at her office waiting for her to leave, waiting for her to arrive. that's when it's really stressful. >> excuse me. >> hey! hey! >> reporter: all dangerously reminiscent of what happened to william's mother.

look at the images. for diana and kate, both taken before she was engaged. for diana, the pressure was often too much to bear. >> i remember once diana ran into a doorway and was crying. >> for kate it was different. despite her young age she seemed very smart and guarded with the press. kate's friend, richard denning. >> a nightclub that everyone goes to called boujis in south kensington. she was famous for nipping into the bathroom and check her hair and makeup before she left because she knew there were photographers waiting outside. >> reporter: and while kate publicly held her own, privately there were serious concerns. >> she was not his fiancee. therefore, she was not entitled technically to any bodyguards. william is surrounded by bodyguards essentially at all times. and he realized, you know, that she was pretty much on her own. and he was afraid for her. >> reporter: on several occasions kate's lawyers, the same as used by the royal family, asked newspaper editors

to leave kate alone. they even threatened lawsuits. it helped a little, but kate was still a target, just like princess diana. and according to christopher anderson, prince william, who had always had nightmares about the night his mother died, now had nightmares about kate. >> the accident that's happening isn't happening in the streets of paris. it's happening in the streets of london. and it's happening to kate. >> reporter: so he worries about kate? >> at one point he said i was born into this. she wasn't. and should i be subjecting her to this? so this was a constant question in their relationship. >> reporter: a question that >> reporter: a question that would drive the couple apart. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

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times were tough for prince william and kate middleton. the paparazzi in hot pursuit, six years dating, no engagement. the pressure was intense. >> happy birthday. >> happy birthday. >> january 2007, kate's 25th birthday. >> the inquest into diana's death is raging. headlines every day about the circumstances leading to diana's death. there's this party for kate at bchl oujis, their favorite nightclub. they come out and they are descended on by hundreds of paparazzi.

and there's this huge response from bodyguards. they're shoved into the land rover as they speed away. but it was a moment at which it became quite obvious that it was just history repeating itself. >> reporter: lawyers for william, the palace and the middletons lashed out. two newspapers responded and stopped publishing paparazzi photos. but the pressure on william and kate was still mounting. according to biographer christopher anderson, everything came to a head on valentine's day 2007. >> she thought she would be getting that proposal. instead, he gave her van cleef and arpels enamel compact. they started to quarrel bitterly. she really demanded that he commit, as they say. and william wasn't ready for it. he went to his father, prince charles. prince charles said you can't keep stringing this girl along. if you're not ready to ask her to marry you, break it off. and unfortunately, he listened to his father's advice.

>> reporter: a father perhaps trying to prevent history from repeating itself. >> charles would have been probably perfectly happy staying a bachelor indefinitely. >> mary robertson was diana spencer's boss and friend when she was dating prince charles in 1980. >> i think there was a great deal of pressure from his mother and father to get married and produce some heirs for the throne, and i think diana was just sort of the right girl at the right time and the right place. >> reporter: insiders say charles did care deeply for diana but was pressured to marry before he was ready. no surprise then that their son william would not be pressured to propose. one spring day kate was at work, ab accessories buyer for this clothing company, when she gets a call. it was william. >> she gets a call on the cell phone and goes into the back room. the other employees can hear what's going on in there. it's not pretty. she's hearing the news he's

breaking it off. she doesn't want this to happen. there's an emotional conversation going on. but it's the big break-up call. >> reporter: "the sun" newspaper broke the news, april 14th, 2007. people were stunned. kate looked grim. she packed up and headed home to her parents. >> she's devastated. and kate's mother, carol, says, well, fight to get him back. i mean, don't be defeated. >> reporter: friends say it didn't take her long to rebound. st. andrews buddy and singer in the boy band blake jewels knight. >> i remember having lunch with her when they split up. it was sort of quite evident that she was -- she was being forthright. she was like, right, i'm getting on with my life. fine. cool. and you know, it hasn't worked out. that's behind me. let's move on. >> reporter: how did prince william react to the break-up? >> he became unglued. i mean, he really started drinking too much.

he went out with his buddies to various clubs. he was very obviously adrift emotionally. it didn't help to have him see pictures of kate having the time of her life. >> reporter: out on the thames training for a cross-channel race or out on the town enjoying life as a single woman. >> she's a smart girl. she made sure that she wasn't going to sort of run back to him. she was very calm and level-headed and strong about it and i think he thought, oh my god, what have i done? >> reporter: she's going to go out and hang out with other people and -- >> yeah. i think he probably thought actually, i really want to be with this girl. >> reporter: nearly three months later there were hints the two were getting back together. >> you find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn't realized or might not really value at the time. for me as with the although i didn't think it at the time. >> reporter: july 1, 2007. princess diana's memorial concert.

>> i went to the after-concert party, and they were just like normal. i imagine that's when they i think made the decision that perhaps they were going to get married. >> reporter: for the next three years the couple would settle into life. william in the military, kate by his side for graduations, ceremonies and other people's weddings. then, october 2010, the wait was finally over. it was a remote spot on the slopes of mt. kenya, africa's second highest peak, called rotundu. a romantic lodge with a fireplace and lots of candles. ironically, not far from where a decade earlier, william had supposedly proposed to his first love, jeka craig. but this time it was kate. >> i took her up somewhere nice in kenya and proposed. >> it was very romantic. there's a true romantic in there. >> there is. >> you said yes? >> of course, yes. >> reporter: in that secluded

lodge he gave kate a ring. they were not alone. >> it was my mother's engagement ring. so i thought it was quite nice because obviously she's not going to be around to share in all the fun and excitement and this is my way of keeping her sort of close to it all. >> reporter: ahead, ring on her finger, smile on her face, but is kate really ready for what lies ahead? down here, folks measure commitment by what's getting done. the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done.

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we've got a few questions. >> reporter: the first time most of the world would hear kate middleton speak. >> would you tell us how prince william proposed to you? >> it was very romantic. >> what was it that you both love about each other? >> reporter: st. james palace, november 16, 2010. william and kate's engagement announcement. >> it's quite a daunting prospect, but hopefully i'll take it in my stride. william is a great teacher, so he'll be able to help me along the way. >> reporter: the confidence of a couple who had seemingly worked it all out.

>> after a few stumbling blocks as every relationship does. but we picked ourselves up and carried on. and it's really easy and being with each other. i'm obviously extremely funny, and she loves that. it's been really good. >> if you say so yourself. >> reporter: a bit of humor in the face of unprecedented media attention. >> let's just calm down with the flash a minute, please. hang on a second. >> there were a mass of people in there for that. questions were being fired at her. but she coped with it very well. and he was so proud of that. it wasn't like his father and mother. they had about six photographers and two reporters. >> reporter: three decades earlier a shy, soft-spoken diana seemed woefully unprepared for what lay ahead. >> has it been a strain trying to carry out a courtship without anyone knowing? >> what do you think? >> yes, it has. >> reporter: and painfully unconnected to her fiance. the world caught a glimpse with charles's awkward admission.

>> and i suppose in love. >> of course. >> whatever "in love" means. >> reporter: diana and charles seemed miles apart emotionally and physically. in the months leading up to the wedding, diana was sequestered behind the gates and the guards of this palace, clarence house, he while charles was on the move. splitting his time between the country estate highgrove and his london residence in st. james palace and traveling to places as far away as australia. diana was always left behind. >> she was floating around in the queen mother's house without really a brief of what to do. she could have had some coaching. this is about to become a world-size job. you're going to have to learn some stuff. bits of geography, bits of history that would have been valuable in the modern age, maybe even some political stuff.

there was nothing. >> it was assumed she knew what she was walking into because she was of their class. >> she was an aristocrat. >> she was one of them, yes. >> reporter: kate would get all the coaching diana sorely lacked. >> pre-marital counseling from the archbishop of canterbury. i can't think of any royal couple less in need of premarital counseling. they worked it out already, but they are willing to go through the motions of this sort of thing and i think she's willing to go through the motions of being taught how to behave in front of the press. in terms of specific ceremonial duties, royal etiquette, there are things you're going to have to be taught. >> reporter: diana got none of that? >> no. >> reporter: february 24th would be kate's first test. her first official royal appearance in north wales, dedicating a lifeboat. william was by her side. ♪ >> she learned to sing the welsh national anthem. she smiled at the right time. she coped with the wind beautifully. and she shook hands with the old and the young.

[ cheers ] >> when they were launching this life boat and after she poured the champagne, william bowed to her with her hands like that, in acknowledgement that this was her first public engagement and she did it brilliantly. >> reporter: yet their lives are not dictated by palace and protocol. unlike past royal couples, william and kate settled far from london's palaces in a small house in remote north wales. >> william is an r.a.f. search and rescue officer. it's a dangerous business. he plucks stranded hikers off mountaintops. meanwhile, kate is kind of keeping the home fires burning at their little house in north wales. >> there'll be no one cooking dinner. there will be no one cleaning the brass. it's going to be different than charles and diana. there will be no big stately home. not yet anyway. he's going to go to work, do his shift, come home, chill, watch tv, probably go and get a video, get some pizza. that's the way they are going to live their life.

>> it was the way kate grew up in rural bucklebury. normal, quiet. once criticized as too common, it may be the very thing that helps keep this royal couple together. >> a lot of the aristocrats are probably the least able to deal with that kind of thing. they didn't often have a firm grasp of what it was like to live in the real world. i'd say that she was much better equipped to deal with the pressures of royal life than the average aristocrat was. >> ironically. >> ironically. >> unlike diana, of course, kate middleton has been with william now nearly eight years, so has had quite a lot of time to reflect and say is this a lifestyle i want? this is what i'm going to get for the rest of my life. in that sense she was a considerable way ahead of diana in understanding and knowing exactly what was coming her way. >> reporter: for william history would not repeat itself. >> it's kind of almost why i had

been waited this long. i wanted to give her a chance to see and back out if she needed to before it all got too much. i'm not trying to learn from lessons done in the past. i just wanted to give her the best chance to settle in and see what happens on the other side. >> reporter: do you think everyone's got it right this time? >> i think finally they have it right. and i think it all is because of diana. if diana hadn't shaken things up the way she did, if she hadn't made the monarchy collectively look at itself in the mirror and see what they were doing wrong and what they could do right, none of these changes would have happened. and i think the true catalyst for all this change now is kate. because in essence, you know, she's going to be the first true people's princess. >> reporter: the people's princess, like diana before her. but unlike diana, prepared for what lies ahead. a royal couple living life on their own terms.

making their own way to the day they will become the king and they will become the king and queen of england. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i woke up this morning and i said to myself, regis, this would be a great day to go over to cnn and guest-host piers morgan's show. so let's go. >> it's me, regis. >> now, if i could only get a big star. i mean one person i really want to talk to. >> this is therail real dave letterman. this is why you never see him guesting anywhere! he won't do it!