7 Rules for Royal Romance

April 18, 2011 — -- Of the millions and millions of single, eligible women in the world -- Kate Middleton won Prince William's heart. Maybe the rest of us can learn something from the princess-to-be and her courtship with Prince William. After extensive research and interviews about their courtship, we compiled these 7 Royal Rules of Romance.

1. Be Friends First: Before the engagement, the exotic trips, the fun nights clubbing, Prince William and Kate Middleton were friends before anything else after they met at St. Andrews University. According to Katie Nicholl, who has long covered the royals for The British newspaper The Daily Mail, William and Kate first met in the dining hall on campus. "He just noticed this gorgeous girl who'd come in, you know, rosy cheeks, and flushed, because she'd go running every morning…And she'd come in later than everyone else." Soon after, "he plucked up the courage to invite her to join his group of friends, for breakfast," Nicholl said, "and that was the early stages of where the friendship grew."

During freshman year, Prince William was enjoying his new life on campus, and Kate was also busy, "she was dating a fourth year student called Rupert Finch," says Nicholl. Maybe this is what enabled Kate and William to become close friends first, before they were romantically linked. "They started going to lectures together. And when William couldn't make lectures, Kate would go and take notes," says Nicholl. Their friendship also grew because they had a lot in common. "I think the lucky thing for Kate is that her idea of fun is the sorts of things she enjoys doing with William," says Simon Perry, chief correspondent People Magazine.

2. Remain Loyal: One of the most important rules of royal romance is to always to be loyal. Throughout the make ups and the breakups, Kate remained loyal to William and never spoke to the press. When Kate and William left the press-free bubble at St. Andrews University in Summer of 2005 and moved to London, as Prince William's girlfriend she quickly became the target of the media, a task she handled well. "She'd smile at them, she'd always have a friendly word," said Nicholl. She remained loyal and discreet through the years. "The British public really like her…Kate Middleton seems to have won people over," said Kiki King, entertainment reporter.

3. Share A Tight-Knit Group of Friends:An important part of any Royal Romance is having a tight knit group of friends. You can't just socialize with anyone who may dish your secrets, or spill the details of your night out with your royal beau to the press. Entertainment reporter Kiki King has reported on Will and Kate's royal romance for years, and has spotted them out at London's hottest clubs: "The times I have seen them out they tended to be surrounded by this gang of friends, so it was very difficult to sort of see them in action. I think that's one thing that they've always been very good at is choosing their friends very carefully and their friends would always protect them."

4. Have Something in "Common": You may have heard the saying…." Couples who play together, stay together." When dating a royal, its best to have things in common with your royal suitor. They both enjoy playing tennis. "She's(Kate) been seen playing tennis with him here at the Arbor Club in London and Chelsea and, and other places. She's very athletic, loves swimming; he loves swimming," says Simon Perry of People Magazine UK .