Prince William and Princess Kate went back to their romantic roots and enjoyed a special date night in the place where they first met and fell in love.

The royal couple both attended St Andrews University – and some ten years after their marriage, returned to the Scottish town in 2021. William and Kate stayed overnight in St Andrews before a day of royal events, and were spotted leaving Forgan’s, a contemporary restaurant with a Scottish twist.

The couple asked for a private seating area at the back of the eatery and had a discreet security detail seated nearby.

“There was a crowd outside once they left but as far as inside goes it was quiet,” said the restaurant’s manager Marc, who declined to give his last name. “There was no pomp and ceremony or fanfare, they were very nice and when they left they were very complimentary.”

The manager, who was off duty when the couple arrived, was called by staff at home: “Word certainly reached me that we had guests come in.”

He declined to say what the couple had eaten, but on the menu at Forgan’s was honey and whisky glazed short rib of beef priced at £17, herb crusted salmon for £16 and sumac cauliflower steak costing £11.

Forgan’s wasn’t built when William and Kate were attending St. Andrews University, from 2001 to 2005. It is based in a converted butcher’s warehouse.

Marc further said he believed that Kate had been recommended the restaurant by one of her university pals. It is popular with one of the societies that Kate was a member of, he added.

During their time at university, the Prince and Princess were instead said to be regulars at their local Pizza Express. They also visited Jahangir, an Indian restaurant on a number of occasions.

Another popular eatery for the couple was Anstruther Fish Bar. And some 24 hours after their meal out at Forgan’s, they headed back to the award-winning eatery for a low-key takeaway.

According to the Daily Mail, the pair were ‘regular customers’ while they were students, and decided to order a £7.95 haddock supper, wrapped in paper, which they ate on a bench near the pier. A short time afterwards, they returned to the shop for ice creams – William had his in a cup, and Kate in a cone – as they chatted to staff.

The couple’s visit to St Andrews came just after they celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary and 20 years after they first met as first-year students.

William and Kate lived a few doors apart at St Salvator’s hall of residence and became friends, before living together with other students in a four-bedroom Edwardian townhouse in Fife.

Their friendship blossomed into romance in 2003 and the pair were first pictured together a year later, when Kate joined the Prince on a skiing holiday in the Swiss resort of Klosters.

The pair announced their engagement in November 2010 and tied the knot the following April at Westminster Abbey in a royal wedding that was watched by millions of people around the globe.