Back when the pair were dating in their twenties, Kate was said to have given William a furious ultimatum after he had behaved in a way she found unacceptable

These days Princess Kate and Prince William seem to have a picture-perfect relationship, but it was not always such smooth sailing between the two of them. Their well-documented love story began at the University of St. Andrews, and for most of their twenties, they dated on and off, before they got married in 2011 in a lavish wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

One of the periods they spent apart was reportedly caused by an ultimatum issued by a furious Kate after William’s unacceptable behaviour left her feeling totally “humiliated” and as though he was treating her like a “doormat”. A report that appeared in the Daily Mail back in 2007 when Kate and William were briefly broken up claimed that Kate had issued the ultimatum after William had twice in quick succession been caught in nightclubs getting up close and personal with other women.

It was the first time, Katie Nicholl reported, that Kate had ever issued a warning like this, and it was because she had been left utterly “humiliated” by the photographs of William clubbing, after years of having to brush off the fact other women so regularly made advances on her boyfriend.

Nicholl quoted one of Kate’s friends as anonymously saying: “She has coped for years with girls flinging themselves at her boyfriend and for a while she found it humorous and even flattering. But after his recent behaviour she gave him an ultimatum and told him that every time he behaved like that in public he was cheapening her image as well as his own.

“She told him she wasn’t prepared to be treated like a doormat and that his carefree behaviour was affecting her image. She gave him quite a pasting. In the past she had always let go of things like that, but this really bothered her.”

The first incident had happened in the London nightclub Boujis – which was once one of William’s regular haunts – where he had been spotted in a “drunken embrace with a pretty blonde”. The second time this happened, just a few days later, photographs of William dancing with another woman whilst he had been out drinking in Bournemouth were published widely in the press.