Mail: Remember when Prince William was infatuated with Arabella Musgrave?

“The Daily Mail Remembers” series is pretty special. Usually, they’re just recycling stories about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, showcasing their obsession for a couple who escaped and lives happily in California. But every so often, The Mail Remembers something pretty funny from Prince William and Kate’s past. One of my recent favorites was “remember when QEII told everyone that Kate needed to get a job?” Well, this weekend’s exclusive is… remember when Prince William dated Arabella Musgrave, a few years before the Middletons got their hooks into him?

Before meeting his future wife Kate at St Andrews, Prince William had a fling with another affluent young woman. In the summer of 2001, before he began his four-year course in Scotland, a childhood friend caught the prince’s eye at a mutual acquaintance’s party. Arabella Musgrave was the 18-year-old daughter of polo club manager Major Nicholas Musgrave.

‘Although not titled aristocracy, Arabella was a close friend of Guy Pelly and Hugh Van Cutsem and part of the Glosse Posse,’ royal correspondent Katie Nicholl wrote in her book, The Making of a Royal Romance. This was the name given to William and Harry’s inner circle and meant Arabella secured an invite to parties the princes used to throw in the basement of Highgrove and those Van Custem would run from his family residence.

‘As she walked through the house party at the Van Cutsems’ family home, William did a double take,’ Nicholl continued. ‘Arabella had blossomed into a gorgeous looking girl, and as she sashayed past him, her perfume lingering in the air, he wondered why he hadn’t noticed her properly until now.’

The two danced and drank until the early hours and, as noted by Nicholl, ‘William knew he would make a move on her by the end of the night’. The royal author added: ‘When Arabella said her goodnights, the prince quietly slipped out of the room to follow her upstairs. It was the beginning of a passionate romance and the two spent as much time together that summer as possible.’

The romance was approved by Prince Charles who ‘suspected the relationship would soon fizzle out and instructed William’s protection officers to give the couple plenty of leeway’. But Major Nicholas was much harder to please. When he caught his daughter sitting on William’s lap while the prince kissed her neck he had a quiet word, according to Nicholl. ‘Although he was fond of William, such displays of affection, he insisted, were not for public consumption.’

The relationship ended by the time William went to St Andrews in what Nicholl described as a ‘mutual decision’. ‘William would be meeting new people at university and Arabella could not expect him to to wait for her,’ she wrote.

During his first term, William started dating Carly Massy-Birch, an English language and creative writing student. He was often invited to supper at Carly’s home, where the prince would step over her muddy Hunter Wellington boots in the hallway. Their affair was to be short-lived, however, and ended somewhat stickily when Carly told William he had to make a decision between her and Arabella.

Despite having swarms of attractive women to choose between, William was bored in Scotland. Nicholl wrote: ‘He missed his friends in Gloucestershire and going to his favourite nightclubs in London. He also missed Arabella, and on Friday nights when he began his journey home to Highgrove he was comforted by the fact that she would be waiting for him.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I enjoyed this piece because I actually forgot about this early romance for William. It’s another reminder that… the young women of the aristocracy really didn’t see a future with him. I won’t say that they wanted nothing to do with him – they did, and he had some posh girlfriends and flings with well-connected young women, and some of those flings happened during his relationship with Kate. But absolutely none of those aristo women wanted to marry him. None of them wanted any part of the clownshow of the monarchy. But yes, it’s one of the big sliding-doors moments for William: how different would his life have been if he went to a different university, stayed with Arabella and/or managed to avoid the Middleton stalkers?

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty, Cover Images.

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54 Responses to “Mail: Remember when Prince William was infatuated with Arabella Musgrave?”

  1. Ah a trip down memory lane for Peg to let everyone know he was a hot ticket back then. Nobody really knew the “real”Peg then so they looked the other way when out partying and “dating”. Who knew the partying and day drinking would be still a big part of his life today? Ah the drunken memories.

    • convict says:

      I reckon some of those girls would have thought he would outgrow the booze and partying lifestyle. Maybe some of those girls considered that he wasn’t ready for marriage and that they’d be available when he was, or at least to settle down, assuming they were interested in the Crown.

      But …they also likely didn’t see the Middleton hooks coming and the gates were shut and locked.

      • Blogger says:

        Willy was too lazy to chase girls. Once the Middletons got him, how easy was it for him to sit back and relax? Sure, he didn’t love her but she was always there. No effort needed with the Middletons.

        And he fell for it: hook, line and sinker.

      • Exactly both these comments! Convict and Blogger nobody knew that Ma Midds had her site on Diana’s son. She had a plan and she pimped her daughter out to achieve her goal.

      • Megan says:

        Controversial opinion but I think the Midds were pretty instrumental in moving William from a child to an adult. He’s still immature and tantrum prone, but he had absolutely no direct role model for how to become an adult. Charles sent him off to boarding school and expected them to do the work.

      • Weatherby says:

        Actually, I do not think william behaves like a grown man at all. In fact, he behaves like a man in a state of arrested development, perpetually trapped in the mindset of a 14-year old boy. Likely the age he was when his mother died is when he stopped maturing.

        I would argue that the Middletons encouraged this mental state of non-growth, because it made William rather dependent on Carole and the family at large for reassurances and massages to his ego. The stories of William laying his head in Carole’s lap still make me nauseous (stories leaked to the press by Carole herself, lest we forget. Which means she is *proud* to disclose it… •shudders•), I can almost see her whispering sweet nothings over his furrowed brow, soothing him over whatever ruckus a courtier caused who had been expecting responsibility of him that day.

        William is an adult man and has complete agency over his choices and actions. But the Middletons did not help him grow, they participated in his stunted growth.

      • convict says:

        Yes to all of the above.
        @Susan Collins: pimped is indeed the word. Those smart girls would have turned off William once the Middletons got their hooks in. They are so obvious with their scheming and climbing.

        Far from showing William what a loving family unit was, they destroyed him by stroking his ego to get the ring. Charles was too busy brainwashing the public to accept Camilla and QEII was too busy being the monarch. They really are reaping what they sowed. I can remember William going on holiday after holiday with the Middletons, not at all interested in royal duty. Why the Queen never stepped in I don’t understand.

        At this point William’s potential was doomed. But, he wanted whatever the Middletons were offering. He is a very weak character and prone to flattery.

  2. ThatGirlThere says:

    Wow, Arabella is quite pretty. She definitely dodged a lazy, racist bullet in Willy.

    • Blogger says:

      She’s not trapped!

    • BeanieBean says:

      Very pretty. And her wedding photo is lovely, too.

      So William came home from uni every weekend? How do you build a life & make new friends if you do that? Or did he need the Highgrove butler to do his laundry?

      • Blujfly says:

        You don’t. He hung out with the same aristocrats he already knew and went to Eton with, and on the weekends went to Edinburgh and back to London and Highgrove. He wanted to leave St Andrews but his father’s advisors thought it would be catastrophic to his reputation and to relations with Scotland. He was therefore allowed to switch majors and take certain classes etc to stay at St Andrews and given special treatment to do so. And Kate stepped it as surrogate mom/maid.

      • tikichica says:

        Did you know that in some countries students still live at home while going to university?

      • convict says:

        Australia is one of them. But that is usually about costs. William never had that problem.

  3. Chloe says:

    William seems to have a thing for brunette’s with light eyes.

    • FlamingHotCheetos2021 says:

      To be fair, that is the most common hair/eye color combo you will find among the British. Brown eyes only make up roughly 20% of the population (and that probably includes a large majority of the immigrant population, so the ‘natives’ would be even less likely to have brown eyes), and natural blondes and redheads are estimated at 20-25% and 6%.

      Also, aristocratic women in the UK these days seem to be less likely to go bleach blonde than they used to.

      • convict says:

        Kate’s eyes are not that light. They are green, but they are a darker green, not remotely blue. Look at George’s dark eyes.

  4. convict says:

    That awful photo of Kate, ha, ha … William got the bride he deserved. That’s all I’ve got.

    • Chrissy says:

      That photo really shows the effects that extreme dieting and cosmetic surgery. Wow! She looked healthy then!

      • Cosmo says:

        What cosmetic surgery do you think she’s done? I think she’s very underweight and that’s taking a toll on her face. It doesn’t look like she does Botox because she’s has forehead wrinkles.

      • Spaceap says:

        Yes she has had heaps of surgery over the years. Her face is completely different.

    • BeanieBean says:

      That’s some major bloat right there. Too much to drink the night before or maybe just some old-fashioned PMS.

  5. Blogger says:

    “When Arabella said her goodnights, the prince quietly slipped out of the room to follow her upstairs.”

    How creepy.

    “Their affair was to be short-lived, however, and ended somewhat stickily when Carly told William he had to make a decision between her and Arabella.”

    No, by this time it was Carly and Lazy. Willy was two-timing Carly with Lazy and Carly humiliated them at the “never have I” party.

    Carly didn’t attend Willy’s wedding. All his other exes did. All power to Carly for having standards and being like Chuck’s Anna Wallace. He may be the future king, but he’s still a dick.

    Of course, maybe the Fail is suggesting Willy and Arabella are back together? 🤔

  6. Sun says:

    Arabella looks absolutely stunning on her wedding day.

    The pic of sad Waity!!! What a fun jaunt down memory lane LOL. I was previously a separation truther and definitely would have thought this was the RR seeding positive/ nostalgic feelings for a potential single William but who the hell knows what’s going on behind closed doors in that creepy family now.

    • Betsy says:

      Vogue has a few pictures of their wedding and looks to have been very pretty all around. She certainly has more style and spunk than Kate.

  7. Tessa says:

    Keen has that fake adoring look at William and he looks totally out of it.

    • BeanieBean says:

      He looks angry & she looks like she’s doing the whole jolly the angry man out of his tantrum thing.

  8. aquarius64 says:

    Man the knives are out for Kate. Remind everyone that William married down and he settled for a mediocre commonor when an aristo woman (or any other woman) would have been better suited to be queen consort.

    • convict says:

      Isn’t this excerpts of Nicholl’s book? It’s clickbait, but I’m sure Kate would not be amused.

  9. jais says:

    Have they done a remember when for Jecca yet? When did she come into play?

    • Tessa says:

      That would be great. He sat Jecca as Guest of Honor at his birthday party, leaving Keen at a back table. He and Jecca had a “pretend” engagement, and she was praised to the skies by the media.

      • SueBarbri33 says:

        It was outrageous at the time and it is STILL an outrage. Plus, his 21st birthday party was themed “Out of Africa” or something, and the images were horrible. Wasn’t there an intruder or something, to top everything off? I’ll also never forget how insane it was at the Concert for Diana when William stuck Kate waaaaay in the back of the royal box. There were about five or six rows of toffs between the two of them. Insane.

  10. sevenblue says:

    How did Kate get more hair in her 40’s than her 20’s? 😭😭 And some people still think she doesn’t use extensions. Anyway.. After Diana, no way any smart aristo family would allow their daughter to marry into that family. Harry got dumped after a woman, he was interested in, talked to her mother and got explained how her life would be as his girlfriend, not even as his wife.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      I think that the Wales children will find it very different to find suitable spouses when that thime comes. THe BRF’s image is even worse now because their treatment of Harry and Meghan reveal that the way they treated Diana was not a fluke but how they operate.

      George and Louis will find it especially difficult because both the institution and the press treat the women who marry into this family horridly to a particular degree.

    • Caitlin says:

      I think it’s pretty obvious that Kate has been wearing wigs for several years. When someone is as malnourished as she is, a full healthy head of hair is not possible.

  11. Northerngirl says:

    I think Carole would have always managed to get her hooks in William, even if he went to another uni.

  12. Lynn says:

    I think it is interesting that no one from the aristocratic world wanted anything to really do with, not just William, but the monarchy as a whole. You have to wonder if they really know what a clown show the monarchy is. That they know what really goes on, who these people are, how they operate, etc… and want nothing to do with it. There is no benefit for them. Where as with Kate…. there’s a benefit for her (according to her and her mom).

    • Libra says:

      It’s been stated that the aristocracy are generally royalists. That their daughters don’t want to be associated with this royal young man speaks volumes.

    • Chloe says:

      @Lynn: why would they when they get to live life as royals (at least the wealthy aristo’s do) with titles and sprawling estates and none of the burdens? I wouldn’t sign up for it either.

  13. Tuesday says:

    Arabella as a young woman looks like the inspiration for Kate’s midlife face work. Or is it just me?

  14. Amy Bee says:

    I suspect for those aristo girls, Diana was a cautionary tale. None of them would have married William.

    • Betsy says:

      Somehow, I don’t think so. I think Diana served as a “here’s how it really is” for the married-ins, but I think for a lot of women, being in the history books and part of the future would have been worth it. It’s not like the Royals are the only dirtbags and cheaters around, you know? Rose Rocksavage’s marriage is understood to have an understanding, as it were, and so long as everyone is on the same page, no big deal (I feel compelled to say I couldn’t deal with that, but many can).

      I think they understood who William was. I think the rumors of what his head injury did to an already unpleasant little boy are probably well known (and better than most of us will ever know), his drinking (and alleged further issues) were well known. I don’t think joining the Royal family altogether was the nonstarter, I think William was.

      • Lady Digby says:

        Also UK tabloid press are famously vicious so you’d have to be prepared for intrusive coverage and opinion on you and your entire family from them as well. Not everybody wants to cosy up to the royal rota to get favourable coverage either.

      • convict says:

        Not entirely. The royals have nothing to offer the rich toffs. They don’t need the aggravation and intrusion into their lives. But had William been a catch, he could have made a good match with someone like Madeleine of Sweden. I read that the QM tried to play matchmaker.

  15. Jpp says:

    I feel like a key takeaway from this writeup is that the relationship with his st Andrew’s girlfriend fizzled when she told him he had to make a choice between her and Arabella. Maybe a Kate never had such demands…

  16. Lala11_7 says:

    The Mail pulling out Prince Williams Pu😬🙃y receipts at THIS time…is…..something 🫨

  17. Jaded says:

    William’s always been the type of boorish, entitled, ill-mannered bloke any woman would run away from. He had a bad rep even back then for being a serial philanderer and mean drunk. Kate only bagged him because she was basically the last one standing and willing to put up with his loucheness (is that a word?).

  18. Emily says:

    I hate how the article emphasizes how women would be “waiting” around for him. Barf.

    • BeanieBean says:

      Yeah, gross. I also intensely dislike the whole ‘blossoming young woman’ trope. Written by middle-aged men.

  19. Em says:

    Wow she resembles Kate a lot. Just fairer and with blue eyes. William seemed to have had a type.

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