The Prince and Princess of Wales have plenty of other things to think about right now, but for their legions of fans, the beginning of April has a very particular meaning.
Because this week marks two decades since the world first learned that William, heir to the throne, and a 22-year-old commoner, Kate Middleton, were dating.
They were photographed smiling and snuggling against each other as they rode a chairlift down the slopes of the Swiss ski resort of Klosters.
And on April 1, The Sun published the image as a world exclusive with the headline ‘Finally, Wills gets a girl’, which might suggest more about the paper’s impatience with the young Prince’s love life than its power of attraction.
Looking back today, it’s clear that any concerns about William’s romantic lateness were hopelessly misplaced.
Kate Middleton joined the royal party on their ski trip to Klosters the following year, and this time there was no secret about it.
Because in those images the same closeness and affection that the couple still exhibits two decades later is evident. In other words, she was waiting to choose and she chose wisely.
Kate and William might have looked like any other young couple in love back then, but you can also detect a protective attitude in the young prince, a quality that his wife will take advantage of now more than ever.
Perhaps it’s instinctive, a natural response to knowing that any woman he showed interest in would find himself in the spotlight.
Or perhaps it’s a trait that was originally developed from wanting to protect his late mother, Diana.
Whatever the case, the gentle tilt of William’s head in those early photographs betrays a kindness that Kate will rely on like never before as she faces her battle with cancer.
Prince William and Kate only seemed to have eyes for each other on this 2005 trip.
The first time the young couple was seen together was 20 years ago in Klosters. Since then, Kate has skied regularly.
Twenty years is a long time, especially in a real-world context.
That’s longer than the late Princess Diana was at the forefront of the public consciousness, and it’s longer than King Charles and Queen Camilla have been married.
But what is also striking about the photographs from this and other ski vacations is how happy Kate looks.
It’s a reminder that we’ve rarely seen her without a smile.
Back then, we could hardly have known that the beautiful brunette from a decidedly middle-class background possessed exactly the characteristics that would enable William and Kate to establish the strongest royal marriage since the late Queen Elizabeth fell in love with the handsome Philip Mountbatten.
As the Royal Family appears more fragile and more human than at any time in recent memory, it is that relationship that the Prince and Princess of Wales appear to be emulating as they navigate these worrying days.
When Kate spoke of William as “a great source of comfort and reassurance” when she revealed her cancer diagnosis to the world, her words recalled Queen Elizabeth’s loving tribute to the husband she described on the occasion of their Golden Wedding in 1997, called her ‘strength and permanence’.
Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry held a press conference during the holidays in 2005.
At a time when the House of Windsor has two of its principal directors out of action, the strength and solidity of the Welsh marriage is a stabilizing force of enormous importance.
That image from two decades ago reminds us that William and Kate, if they are healthy, will be the emblematic figures of the coming century, just as the Queen and Prince Philip were central to the previous one.
Unlike Charles and Diana’s marriage, which imploded before our eyes, there hasn’t been a single photograph of Kate and William in 20 years that suggests anything more than shared purpose and love.
Whether working together or attending family engagements with George, Charlotte and Louis, theirs is a union built to last.
Even when they briefly split as boyfriend and girlfriend in 2007, they quickly reconnected. As Kate said later, she wasn’t happy about it, but her experience made her stronger: “You discover things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realized.”
We can never know for sure what happens within another person’s marriage, but that statement indicates not only resilience, but a willingness to grow.
Likewise, Kate’s determination to take responsibility for the Photoshop errors in the family photo released on Mother’s Day shows another strength: an acceptance that people, even royalty, can sometimes make mistakes.
Shortly after this photograph was taken in March 2005, the couple separated. But in July 2007 they got back together.
Catherine, Princess of Wales’s moving video message to the nation in which she reveals she has cancer
Prince George, Kate, Prince Louis, Prince William and Princess Charlotte were there for the first day at their new school in September 2022.
After five memorable years in which some members of the Royal Family seemed unable to reflect on their own actions and instead blamed others, the princess’ gentle and swift apology said it all.
From the ‘Waity Katie’ label to author Hilary Mantel’s damning assessment of the princess as a ‘shop window dummy’ selected only for reproduction, Kate has overcome her share of often very unfair criticism over time.
But when it started coming from the brother-in-law he had once adored and his outraged wife, it must have been even harder to bear.
If Kate Middleton, 22, had known she would endure such abuse – including unfounded accusations of racism – along with suspected breaches of her medical records and social media speculation so frenetic she was forced to share her suffering private with the nation, has he stayed with the young prince on the ski lift?
My answer is: without a doubt.
Because Kate’s secret weapon has always been that toughness behind the smile.