The Crown recreates 'knockout' moment Kate caught William's eye whilst modelling see-through knitted dress
28 November 2023, 18:17 | Updated: 29 November 2023, 00:38
Hit Netflix series The Crown re-creates the start of William and Kate's romance, starting with the Princess strutting down the catwalk in her iconic sheer dress.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The pair attended the University of St Andrews when Kate was modelling in a charity fashion show.
As the series wraps up, the final episodes of The Crown will introduce Kate, played by Meg Bellamy.
Netflix says that the drama will show "the beginnings of a new Royal fairy tale in William and Kate".
For the show, costume designers have created a near-replica of the sheer hand-knitted silk dress.
The original was designed by St Andrews fashion student, Charlotte Todd, for £30.
It was then sold at auction for £65,000 weeks before the royal wedding.
The designer has spoken out and said: "I never imagined as I sat knitting this piece it would be so important."
Before the fashion show, William had only seen Kate as a friend.
However, it is reported that he fell for her instantly when he saw Kate on the catwalk.
The future king approached Kate after the show and said she looked a "knockout".
The fashion show has been described as a moment where "sexual attraction caught fire" between the pair, according to Tina Brown in her royal biography, The Palace Papers.
Ms Brown continues: "Everyone noticed that he (William) was transfixed by a smoking-hot brunette who waltzed down the catwalk in a diaphanous black-and-gold silk dress with the shortest of short skirts that showed off her figure and supermodel-long legs.
"For William, it was a double-take as indelible as Vronsky’s first sight of Anna Karenina at the Moscow railway station."
The first six episodes of the series were released earlier in November, coving Princess Diana's death.
The final six episodes of The Crown will be released on 14 December, starting with Prince William trying to cope with his mother's death.
The series will conclude with the wedding of Charles and Camilla in 2005, who are played by Dominic West and Olivia Williams.
