In the 1990s, boyband mania had swept the country with groups like Westlife, Backstreet Boys, Take That and Boyzone filling pages of teen magazines with glossy pull-out posters.

But there was another prince sweeping the nation with his burgeoning good looks, beachy blonde hair and cheeky smile.

The phenomenon was dubbed Willsmania by the media, with magazines around the world such as Hello!, Celebrity Focus, People and YM featuring young Prince William on their covers. 

While William was studying at Eton, Kate Middleton, a boarder at Marlborough College, was rumoured to have posters of the prince on the walls of her dorm.

Royal author Katie Nicholl wrote in her book, Kate: The Future Queen: ‘Kate didn’t have a serious boyfriend, though according to her dorm mate Jessica Hay, she harboured a crush on the teenage Prince William.’

But, according to the now Princess of Wales, it was a very different teen idol who she pinned to the wall.

William came to Marlborough for inter-school events, and may have bumped into Kate in the dining room, but she was not one of the girls who would gather to gawp at him.

She denied reports which suggested she had his picture pinned to her dorm wall, but school friend Jessica Hay said she did have a crush on him.

‘We would sit around talking about all the boys at school we fancied but Catherine would always say: “I don’t like any of them. They’re all a bit of rough.”

‘Then she would joke: “There’s no one quite like William.”

‘She always said: “I bet he’s really kind. You can tell by just looking at him.”’

During Kate and William’s engagement interview in November 2010, journalist Tom Bradby said: “There’s a story that goes around that you had a picture of him on your wall.’

William jokingly responded: ‘There wasn’t just one, there was about 20.’  

Kate said: ‘He wishes! No. No, I had the Levi’s guy on my wall, not a picture of William.’ 

‘Well, it was me in Levis, obviously!’ William said.

The Levi’s poster Kate referred to was likely from the iconic 1985 Levi’s launderette advert featuring Nick Kamen, who famously stripped down to his underwear.

Nicholl wrote: ‘Kate was more interested in playing hockey than waiting at the goal line on the hockey field above Wedgewood, where some of the girls congregated to gawp at the prince.

‘Others would gather outside Mill Mead, where the buses parked, so they could chase after the boys as they drove off. But not Kate.

At the time, William was grieving the tragic loss of his mother, Princess Diana, and was not prepared for the screaming crowds and endless fan mail that came with his new teenage heartthrob status. 

Nicholl wrote: ‘Kate had followed the story closely, deeply saddened by the princess’s death, which had prompted an outbreak of mass mourning around the world.’

Royal author Tom Quinn wrote in his book Yes, Ma’am: ‘Being a young king in waiting is rather like being a pop star.

‘The position, the glamour and money associated with it does strange things to people.’

The craze went even further when, in 1999, Tatler magazine named 17-year-old William as the hottest date for 2000.

He was top of Tatler’s ‘Little Black Book’s’ list of 200 men and women, with his ‘heartthrob looks and charming manners,’ the Mail reported at the time. 

Nicholl claimed that, despite popular reports that William and Kate first met at St Andrews, the two were actually first acquainted while she was still at Marlborough.

‘The summer of 1999, before she started upper sixth, was one of mixed emotions for Kate.

‘Her friend Emilia d’Erlanger had introduced Kate to some of her out-of-school friends.

‘The niece of the tenth Viscount Exmouth, Emilia was fantastically well-connected and part of William and Harry’s ‘Glosse Posse’.

‘The Glosse Posse would meet on weekends and during holidays when they were invited to Club H, William and Harry’s den in the cellars of Highgrove.

‘Being so close to Emilia, it was only a matter of time before Kate met William, and that summer they were introduced.

‘Their very first encounter is not something Kate has ever spoken about.’

William’s decision to attend the University of St Andrews, where he met Kate Middleton, significantly boosted applications and interest in the university. 

This Prince William effect resulted in a 44 per cent increase in the university’s applications compared to the previous year.

The increase was particularly noticeable among young women, especially from the US.

It seems Cupid’s quiver was set as William and Kate both ended up living in St Salvator’s halls of residence at St Andrew’s in September 2001.

The two sat together in the dining hall, bonding over their love of skiing and covering for each other when they had to miss a class.

In 2002 William paid £200 for a table close to the catwalk where 20-year-old Kate was wearing a revealing sheer dress with a black bra and underwear for a charity fashion show. 

A romance blossomed, and after they moved into a shared house together in their second year, rumours surfaced that the flatmates were romantically linked.

In a spectacular moment of foreshadowing, the couple heard a speech at their graduation ceremony in 2005 by their principal, who described St Andrews in Fife as the country’s top matchmaking university.

He added: ‘You may have met your husband or wife.’

The couple announced their engagement on November 16, 2010, before tying the knot in April 2011.

Whether or not it was a poster of William that Kate hung in her boarding school dorm, the Princess of Wales proved that love finds its way to you when you’re not chasing it.