Who did Kate and William date before each other and are Lola Airdale-Cavendish-Kincaid and Rupert Finch real people?

In season 6 part 2 of The Crown the Prince and Princess of Wales were kicking off their time at St Andrews by dating some fellow students, but who were these people in real life? and Who did Kate and William date before each other?

Following the release of season 6 part 2, some viewers are wondering where The Crown was filmed, and how much truth is in these episodes. While some are wondering did The Queen really consider stepping down? Others are more interested in the romantic history of Prince William and Princess Catherine as the seventh episode dives into how the pair met at University. In particular, some want to know more about who Kate and William dated before they started dating each other...

In the episode, Prince William is encouraged to get 'stuck in' to university life, by Prince Harry who claims is all about sex and jokes that it's prime time to 'sire some illegitimate bast*rds.' The Prince seems to take this advice to heart as he then meets a girl named Lola at a party and the pair quickly begin dating.

After an awkward interaction with Prince William and his new love interest, Lola Airdale-Cavendish-Kincaid, at the library, Kate soon begins dating a boy named Rupert Finch and even brings him home to Berkshire to meet her parents. Although Kate and William rather quickly ditch their partners in favour of one another, fans want to know how accurate this storyline in The Crown is. Who did Kate and William really date before one another, are these characters real or just plot devices in the show?

Is Lola Airdale-Cavendish-Kincaid a real person?

Yes and No. Unfortunately, Lola Airdale Cavendish Kincaid is an imagined person in The Crown and no one with that name exists. However, Prince William did date someone called Carley Massy-Birch in the first year of St Andrews, shortly before he met Kate. This likely is who the character is very loosely based on.

In 2010, Carley spoke to Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl about her relationship with the Prince. "I'm a real country bumpkin. I think that was why we had a connection. William was in the year below, and we just happened to meet through the general St. Andrews melee."

"It's such a small place that it was impossible not to bump into William, and after a while there was nothing weird about seeing him around. We got on well, but I think we would have got on well even if nothing had been going on romantically. It was very much a university thing, just a regular university romance," she said.

Reportedly Carley and William broke up because of his interest in another girl, but that other girl was not Kate Middleton. Carley reportedly told William he had to decide between her and Arabella Musgrave, a girl who William had begun a romantic relationship with before heading off the St Andrew's and was still linked with her.

Is Rupert Finch a real person?

Yes! The Crown decided against renaming Kate's first boyfriend Rupert, who was in fact a close friend of Kate and William's after university and even went to their wedding in 2011.

Rupert and Kate briefly dated at university when he was 22 and a fourth-year student and she was 19. He studied law and went on to marry the Marquess of Reading, Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs, the co-founder of the brand Beulah London. Princess Eugenie and Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas were among the guests at their high society wedding in 2013.

Reportedly Kate was dating Rupert when she caught William's eye at the annual Don’t Walk charity fashion show, in March 2002, when it's reported that the Prince tried to kiss her. 

A close university friend of Kate's told Vanity Fair, "He [Prince William] actually told her she was a knockout that night, which caused her to blush. There was definitely chemistry between them, and Kate had really made an impression on William. She played it very cool, and at one point when William seemed to lean in to kiss her, she pulled away. She didn’t want to give off the wrong impression or make it too easy for Will."