long before they became the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (and eventually, the Prince and Princess of Wales), Prince William and Kate Middleton devised a unique plan to navigate romance away from a global magnifying glass. They adopted cleverly concealed names, from pretending to be Holly wood A-listers checking in to a hotel to using covert secret service names, but the royals had multiple ways of disappearing when they needed space. “The Smith’s” hotel room get away “Mr. & Mrs.
Smith were not known to me during William’s younger days and I had always been so sure the couple were too distinctive to escape being caught if the alias didn’t disguise them,” royal author Robert Jobson wrote in his book, Catherine, Princess of Wales (2024), referencing secret trips to Balmoral and Sandringham where they took a ” romantic escapade for weekend away to Highgrove.”
When checking into hotel rooms across the United Kingdom to stay under the radar while having an affair on April’s Day from university: “The couple regularly stayed together incognito, where William registered with hotels under the name M and Mrs. Smith.
The reason behind the pair’s selection of that alias remains a mystery, however it is clear that such choice certainly did little to help the couple blend in,” Jobson continued in the biography.
“They just chose such a ridiculous one,” he added, joking about their tendency to do so.
During William’s second and final year at St. Andrews (while he was dating Catherine) and through much of William’s time as Duke and Duchess, it was fairly simple for the pair to elude reporters, but in recent years, it became increasingly difficult and there are many instances reported of royal bodyguard details trying to throw press hounds off the scent of Will and Kate on a clandestine journey.
University Days As “Steve.”
It appears Prince William was attempting to disappear on dates to a girls dormitory days after meeting Catherine. Before heading off on secret weekend trips, and for two years of his time at the University of St Andrews in Scotland from 2001 to 2005 William assumed the alias Steve.
Catherine played along with the joke sometimes calling him “Steve” during parties they threw together for their university friends.
A quick jaunt to the Seychelles, In 2007, it was after his and Catherine’s reconciliation that they took a secret trip to the Seychelles which repaired the damage of their momentary split.
According to Andrew Morton’s book, Catherine (2011): they escaped for the week as “Martin and Rose Middleon” to rekindle their relationships and make their love strong again, Three years later, William gave Catherine a sapphire engagement ring after a daring romantic Kenyan marriage proposal!
They went back to the same luxurious getaway for their official honeymoon following their wedding, April 29, 2011.
Personal protection plan In addition to secret undercover journeys they also had secret code names given to them from royal protection details: as Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (their marital names while living together post-wedding) they used “Danny Collins” and “Daphne Clark” (Danny Collins = DC = Duke/Duchess of Cambridge).” They used names like that so they could order room service without anybody overhearing if their conversations were potentially being monitored.
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By using their initALS, they knew it would work when used by other bodyguards and even hotel employees alike, but it seems that only William truly cared about these code names, and Kate used what she pleased,” Jobson continued.