Imagine if Princess Diana had met her future daughter-in-law. Well, Season Six of "The Crown" really does imagine that, staging Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, first meeting on a street corner.
The seventh episode, "Alma Mater," opens with William (Rufus Kampa) and his mom, played by Elizabeth Debicki, collecting money for charity.
Catherine, then known as Kate Middleton, (played by Eva Bright) and her mom, Carole (Eve Best), leave a store only to see the royals and a crowd gathered. Carole encourages her daughter to approach the prince.
"That's very generous," Diana says when Kate offers a donation. "What's your name?"
"Catherine," Carole says.
"Kate's fine," she says.
The young Will and Kate lock eyes. "Say thank you to Kate," Diana says. They part with a "Merry Christmas." Kate goes home and cuts out a magazine photo of Prince William to hang on her wall. "Well, you never know," Carole says of her daughter's romantic prospects.
Did this encounter really happen? Here's what we know.
Did Kate Middleton meet Princess Diana?
Princess Diana died in a fatal car accident on Aug. 31, 1997 in Paris. William was 15 years old at the time.
Kate confirmed she never met her late mother-in-law during an event in April 2023 in which the princess spoke with the crowd gathered. In a video from the event, she can be heard discussing her engagement ring, which used to be Princess Diana's.
“It’s the same ring and it’s exactly the same size as when I tried it on,” Kate can be heard saying in the clip. “It’s very special. What an honor to be able to wear it.”
“I never, sadly, got to meet her,” she continued, but said she'd be a "brilliant" grandmother. “We miss her every day," she said.
How did Prince William and Kate Middleton meet?
William met his future bride while they were both studying at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. As the story goes, the two were friends, and then he noticed her in a romantic light after she wore a daring dress at a campus fashion show.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Ed McVey — who plays the older version of Prince William — says the show fictionalized elements of Will and Kate's story.
"There isn't really any information about their getting together at that time. Which is quite nice, because you can make it however you want to make it, like a normal relationship. We know they get together. We were trying to put as many barriers in front of that as possible," he says.