William and Kate had a ‘marriage pact’ to take the pressure off relationship

Prince William and Kate Middleton had a private agreement once they got back together after their shock split more than a decade ago.

Kate Middleton and Prince William made a secret ‘pact’ to marry each other after they got back together again, to take the pressure off their relationship.

The Cambridges are now a happy family of five, but there was a point where it seemed they might go their separate ways after breaking up in 2007, reports The Sun.

The royal couple in Pakistan earlier this month. Picture: Chris Jackson — Pool/Getty Images

After rekindling their romance, royal expert Katie Nicholl, revealed the pair made a pact about their future.

Writing in her new book, Kate: The Future Queen, she revealed the couple made the important promise soon after they got back together.

The pair had jetted to the island of Desroches, in the Seychelles, to spend some quality time together.

After dating for years without a proposal, Katie claims the mum-of-three was looking for some clarification from Prince William.

She said: “There on the paradise island, William promised Kate that he was in the relationship for the long term.

“For the very first time, they talked seriously about marriage, and with the ocean before them and beneath the night sky, they made a pact to marry.”

It seems Prince William reassured Kate about their future by promising she would one day get a ring, with Katie adding the idea was to “take the pressure off and just promise we’ll end up together”.

The young couple was married in 2011. Picture: AFP Photo/Carl De Souza

Reflecting on their split years later, Prince William said: “We were both very young.

“We were both defining ourselves as such and being different characters.

“It was very much trying to find out way and we were growing up, it was just a bit of space — things worked out for the better.”

Kate added: “I think I … at the time wasn’t very happy about it, but actually it made me a stronger person.

“You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realised, or I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you are younger and I really valued that time for me as well although I didn’t think it at the time.”

The pair, both 37, met at university in 2001 while studying at St Andrews, but didn’t get together until 2003.

Over the next few years their relationship blossomed as they pursued individual goals, with Kate working with her family’s business and Prince William starting officer training.

After briefly splitting in 2007, the pair were officially back on a few months later.

The Duchess of Cambridge was snapped at a concert to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.

They got engaged in 2010 and wed the following year, welcoming Prince George, six, Princess Charlotte, four, and Prince Louis, one.

The family on Charlotte’s first day of school this year. Picture: Aaron Chown/Pool/AFP

Details of the couple’s “marriage pact” comes amid a report that the Cambridges “were scheduled to fly” on the doomed Leicester City helicopter, which crashed last year, killing everyone on board.

Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, his employees Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, pilot Eric Swaffer and his co-pilot partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz were all killed in the accident on October 27, caused by a catastrophic mechanical failure.

Prince William and Kate paid tribute to the victims of the crash in Leicester, UK, on November 28 last year. Picture: Neil P. Mockford/Getty Images

Lechowicz’s sister, Kate, told The Sun that Prince William had spoken of his excitement at taking his family on a trip in the helicopter in November.

“They were scheduled to fly together again in November just a short time after the helicopter crashed,” she told the publication. “William had told Eric, “Next time it will be with Kate and the kids.”

“He said it will be a nice day out for him and the family.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.