Princess Catherine made a bold feminist statement during her university days by co-founding a drinking society at St Andrews University, where she met her future husband, Prince William. The move was reportedly driven by her annoyance that existing societies excluded women.
Co-founding a Drinking Society
An anonymous source from St Andrews University told The Guardian that Catherine co-founded the society because she was “annoyed that the old ones excluded women.” Despite the nature of the society, it appears her motivation was not a love of alcohol.
A friend of Catherine’s, who enjoyed a gap year in Florence with her, reportedly said she was never “really drunk.” The friend told The Mirror: “She would like a glass of wine but couldn’t really handle her drink. She’d get giggly and silly after a few glasses, so then she would stop. She was never interested in getting really drunk. She never ever let herself get out of control.”
Restrained Attitude to Alcohol
This restrained attitude supports the idea that feminist principles drove her to co-found the society. Further evidence of her sobriety came when she and William left beer off the menu at their wedding reception. A source told The Mirror at the time: “While the younger royals enjoy a pint from time to time, neither Kate nor William is a big beer drinker, so they decided to leave it off the menu.”
Princess Catherine initially studied Psychology with History of Art before switching to just Art History. During a visit to UCL, she said: “I started off doing Psychology at St Andrew's, with History of Art; it was a bit full-on, but it was really interesting.”
Living Together at University
In their second year, Prince William and Catherine moved in together as friends. In 2002, they lived in 13A Hope Street, an off-campus apartment with friends Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale. William said in their engagement interview: “We moved in together as friends because we were living together, we lived with a couple of others as well, it just sort of blossomed from there really. We just saw more of each other, hung out a bit more and did stuff.”
The pair announced their engagement in 2010.
