'The Crown' Imagines Budding of Prince William and Kate Middleton's Relationship as Final Season Films

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The Crown envisions a young Prince William looking twice at his future wife, Kate Middleton!

Netflix cameras were recently seen rolling near the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where the future Prince and Princess of Wales met and fell in love as college students. As the streamer's hit drama inspired by the lives of the British royal family films its sixth and final season, actor Ed McVey, who plays Prince William, was photographed doing a double-take over Meg Bellamy, who has been cast as Kate.

The pictures depict a sweatshirt-clad William passing Kate on a run by the coast, looking back over his shoulder as she jogs along unfazed in a zip-up jacket, leggings, sneakers and headphones.

Prince William, 40, and Princess Kate, 41, have stayed mum about the exact moment that they met. In their 2010 engagement interview with ITV, Kate said it took time for them to get to know each other, in part due to her bashfulness.

"I think you said I actually went bright red when I met you and sort of scuttled off," she told William at the time. "[I was] feeling very shy about meeting you."

RELATED: The Crown Cameras Roll on Final Season in London — See the Fresh Faces in the Cast!

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From there, however, the two became "very close friends."

"We were friends for over a year first," Prince William said in the same conversation. "It just sort of blossomed from then on."

The moment marks the first time that McVey and Bellamy have been seen filming together. Both actors are newcomers to The Crown, which has continuously replaced its cast through the seasons to reflect the royals aging through the decades.

UK Press/Newsmakers; Kim Hardy Prince William; Ed McVey

RELATED: Everything to Know About The Crown Season 6

Deadline announced the casting news in September 2022, reporting that Bellamy auditioned to casting directors after submitting a self-taped video following a casting call on social media. Meanwhile, McVey graduated from Drama Centre London in 2021 and has understudied theater roles. He'll split the role of William with 16-year-old Rufus Kampa, who is poised to play a younger William in some of the season.

All three actors will count The Crown as their first professional television appearance.

Season 6 is expected to touch on the late '90s and early 2000s for the royal family, including the beginning of Prince William and Kate's love story.

Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images; Diana Field Photography Kate Middleton; Meg Bellamy

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After eight years of dating (and endless speculation), Prince William and Kate announced their engagement. The royal popped the question during a vacation in Kenya with friends, proposing with the 18-carat sapphire ring that had been his mother Princess Diana's engagement ring from then-Prince Charles.

The couple shared the news with the world a few weeks later in November 2010.

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The following spring, William and Kate wed in a fairy-tale ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

The sixth and final season of The Crown is expected to premiere on Netflix in late 2023.