Will and Kate: Behind the Breakup

April 15, 2007 — -- It seems that Prince William himself reacted to his reported breakup with his longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton with a night out on the town Saturday night in London.

The prince reportedly ran up a $9,000 bar bill at a nightclub, where he allegedly yelled, "I'm free."

But today in Britain, there is still a great amount of attention about why and what went wrong.

To many British people, the split came as a huge surprise.

"I saw Kate as looking so confident in her role," Majesty magazine editor-in-chief Ingrid Seward told "Good Morning America Weekend Edition." "She looked the cat that had stole[n] the cream."

Few really know the reason for the reported split, but that has not stopped the Sunday newspapers in London from staking their claim to the "truth," with claims that Prince William felt the fun had gone out of their relationship. Some reports mentioned a "make or break" decision that William was asked to make.

According to those reports, at a meeting 10 days ago, senior royals told him he should either marry Middleton if he is ready to commit or let her get on with her life.

In hindsight, the clues to William's view of marriage at such a young age may have been there for years.

"I really want to be in control of my own life," he has said. "If I don't agree with what someone's saying or what someone's pushing on me then I won't do it."

News of the World claimed that the Queen herself told Will, "Don't rush down the aisle. We can't afford another Diana."

Now that Prince William is back on the market, many women will pursue him.

"Yes there will be a lot of stars in eyes today -- yes, absolutely," Seward said. "But I don't think it's as easy as it appears."

Many Britons had been hoping for a young royal marriage. There has been so much speculation about an engagement that some enterprising companies, including Woolworth, had designed marriage memorabilia with William and Kate's photograph.

Woolworth says it never sent its memorabilia into production. Other companies that did will have to use photo editing software to replace Middleton's head.