Prince William and Kate Middleton on the rocks - again!

By Grant Hodgson Grant.Hodgson@Mgn.Co.Uk, sundaymirror.co.uk 10/02/2008

Prince William and Kate Middleton (Pic:Xposure)

EXCLUSIVE One date since Xmas

Prince William and Kate Middleton's romance is drifting to an end, according to close friends.

The couple have have met just once since Christmas and the passion on William's side of the relationship is "evaporating", they claim.

Wills and Kate - who are both 25 - split last April after five years together, but three months later they got back together.

At the time royal watchers predicted an engagement announcement some time in 2008, but now friends believe the relationship is virtually over.

They spent Christmas apart - William with the royals at Sandringham while Kate joined her family in Barbados. And although they met up for one night over New Year, William has not returned to London since he began his RAF training in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire on January 4 - and Kate has not travelled to him. He even missed her birthday two weeks ago.

"William has been distancing himself from Kate for a while," said one family friend. "He loves Kate dearly and doesn't want to hurt her.

"They are in touch, but their lives are pulling in different directions. There's a feeling that things have simply run their course."

Kate is now resigned to the end of the relationship and is understood to have become frustrated that it has not moved on since they got back together.

A source said: "It's a sad thing for both of them. William fears he will not find anybody else who loves and cares for him so much. But does he want to spend the rest of his life with her, which means making Kate his Queen? It really is a dilemma for him."

A courtier commented: "Let's just say the relationship has been stronger in the past. An engagement is far from inevitable. One of the real tests will be if Kate attends Peter Phillips' wedding later this year. The rest of The Firm will be there."