Prince William met his future wife Kate Middleton at St Andrews, but things could have been very different if it hadn’t been for a long heart-to-heart that William had with his father King Charles back in 2001

It’s a challenging time for the entire Royal Family, but Prince William in particular has a lot on his plate – as he works to balance his royal duties alongside those of a parent, all whilst supporting his wife Kate, the Princess of Wales as she undergoes a course of preventative chemotherapy.

His father King Charles is also being treated for cancer, and this has left two of the most senior royals unable to undertake public duties for the time being – making it even more important for William to keep going with his official engagements.

When Kate announced she had been diagnosed with cancer to the nation in an emotional video message, King Charles was one of the first to throw his support behind his “beloved daughter in law” and the public saw just how close the pair have become over the years. But, a royal author has claimed, that without a serious heart-to-heart that took place between Charles and his oldest son back in 2001, the couple may never have even got together.

Prince William has always been close to his family, and over the years often looked to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, and dad Charles for advice and guidance. They have decades of experience negotiating royal situations, tackling difficult diplomatic meetings and controlling family drama.

But William hasn’t just gone to Charles for professional insight, he also goes to his dad for personal advice – including when he wanted to quit university after just one term. Royal author Robert Lacey claims that uni life wasn’t quite what William expected it to be, saying he “had not anticipated quite how ‘boring’ – his word – life in a small Scottish seaside town could be”.

In his new book, Battle of Brothers, he explains that the highlights were “shopping in the local Tesco” while nights out were “clouded” because all the other students were fascinated by him. Lacey also claims that the prince wasn’t enjoying his course, history of art. Unhappy, he came home for all but two of the weekends in his first term and was ready to leave by Christmas.

When he arrived back in London for the festive break in 2001, William told Charles he planned to quit – but his dad had some encouraging advice. According to Lacey, he asked Charles if he would work out a plan for him to withdraw and transfer to a different university, eyeing up Edinburgh as an alternative.

Charles spoke to his most trusted aides, who knew it would be a PR disaster if William quit after just a few weeks. Lacey claims one of them said: “It would have been a personal disaster for William, he would have been seen as a quitter.”

There were also concerns it could hurt relations with Scotland, as there was a lot of excitement about the future king choosing to study there – so a change of heart could have caused issue. His grandfather, Prince Philip, had a more direct response, reportedly saying: “William needs to knuckle down and not wimp out”.

Charles’s spin doctor, Mark Bolland, told Lacey: “It was no different from what many first-year students go through. We approached the whole thing as a wobble, which was entirely normal.

“St Andrews had a flexible course structure and when they heard that William might be happier majoring in geography, they made sure there were no roadblocks.” After working out a new plan, the aides went back to Charles and suggested he should “demonstrate more fatherly backbone”.

So over Christmas, Charles did just that and sat his son down down for a heart-to-heart. It worked a trick, and William agreed to go back to St Andrews.

The decision changed much more than his education, and returning to Scotland meant he fell in love with his friend Kate Middleton, who would become his beautiful wife and the mother to his children. William has spoken about the “wobble”, saying “I don’t think I was homesick, I was more daunted.

“My father was very understanding about it and realised I had the same problem he probably had. We chatted a lot, and in the end we both realised – I definitely realised – that I had to come back.”