Prince William Once Paid £200 in a Charity Auction for a Date with Kate Middleton, Her Former College Roommate Says

The love story between Prince William and Kate Middleton began earlier than the public originally thought!

According to Kate’s former roommate at the University of St. Andrews, where the Prince and Princess of Wales met and fell in love, William and Kate actually went on a date prior to the famous 2002 fashion show that has long been widely considered to be the spark that began their decades-long romance.

Laura Warshauer told The Daily Mail that the prince actually bid £200 to take Kate on a date — and it all happened at a Hogwarts-reminiscent castle party, no less.

“We went to a party at a castle. It was a Harry Potter theme, and they did an auction for charity where people were bidding to win a date,” Warshauer said. “Will bid £200 to win a date with Kate,”

Warshauer’s memory of their date is hazy, but she recalled that Kate remained composed and collected throughout. The now-married couple had “instant chemistry,” she said.

The Prince and Princess originally met at university in 2001, and while their relationship moved slowly — Kate was shy at the time, she revealed in their 2010 engagement interview — they eventually moved in together with friends for their second year at college. Popular lore has long held that their connection reportedly turned romantic when Kate walked in a fashion show wearing a sheer dress and a black bikini underneath.

The pair’s relationship became public prior to their mutual college graduation in 2005. They briefly went separate ways in 2007 — as Prince William said in their 2010 engagement interview, they were “trying to find our own way” — before getting back together months later.

On Oct. 20, 2010, Prince William proposed to Kate with his late mother Princess Diana‘s engagement ring while on a holiday trip in Kenya. They married about six months later at Westminster Abbey in London on April 29, 2011, and now share three children.