Article continues below advertisementPrince William once watched his friends coin a teasing nickname for Kate Middleton and her famously close family - a label insiders now tell OK! revealed as much about William's world at the time as it did about the Middletons themselves.William, now 43, met Kate, 44, in 2001 when they were first-year students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. They began as friends, became housemates and later a couple, building a relationship that has now spanned more than half their lives.