Kate Middleton didn't let that happen. She showed patience - even when the press dubbed her "Waitey Katie" because Prince William's proposal was so slow in coming - and grit when their relationship fell apart several years ago.
Until she spoke out about her love for William and her admiration for his late mother, Princess Diana, on the day their engagement was announced, Middleton had devoted herself to keeping totally mum about her relationship with William and her thoughts about joining "The Firm" - as the Royal Family is sometimes known.
As a result of her reticence, only her close friends know if she has hoped for years to marry William - as some schoolmates say, pointing out that she went out of her way to catch his eye in their early days at university - or if she was content with her undefined role as on-again, off-again girlfriend of one of the most eligible men in the world.
In the absence of words there have been images: Kate glamorous in evening wear, Kate lounging on a yacht in a white bikini, and - most surprisingly - Kate in black bra and panties topped by a sheer dress at a charity fashion show, an event that prompted William, according to biographer Katie Nicholl, to tell a friend that "Kate's hot" during the early days when they were just friends.
Shortly afterwards, Nicholl said, the prince made his move, setting in motion the events leading to next year's gala royal wedding. She said Middleton worked to catch William's eye, and when their romance blossomed, she made an effort to keep out of the public eye so they could enjoy each other's company in private.
"They tucked themselves away," Nicholl said. "They ordered curries from the local curry shop at the end of the road, they called in DVDs. They had a very successful understanding that they would never be photographed together, they wouldn't be pictured holding hands. When they turned up together, it was separately. And that stood them in good stead, they could keep that relationship clandestine for the best part of a year."
Middleton's relationship with William has not always been smooth sailing. William pursued several other young women while dating Middleton, and they separated briefly several times over the years - once in 2004, when William reportedly complained of claustrophobia in the months before graduation; and later in 2007, when William was photographed dancing the night away with other women at nightclubs.
Middleton (28) now describes that as an unhappy time, but she did not sit home and mope. She was photographed partying in a thigh-skimming minidress with friends and devoted some of her extra free time to training for a challenging charity rowing race.
The couple soon reunited and have spent as much time together as possible since then, although William has been busy with his military training, which often keeps him away for weeks at a time.
Now that their relationship is back on track - and her entry into the royal inner circle assured - Middleton's family background is coming under increased scrutiny.
She is a commoner in the sense that she does not come from the highest segment of the British aristocracy, where birth has been rewarded with great wealth for generations, but Middleton's parents have made millions from their party supply business called Party Pieces.
They live in Bucklebury, a pleasant hybrid village that is part suburbia and part rural England where most of the ample houses are obscured by high hedges. It is a place where many drive Range Rovers to make it easier to ford the dirt roads when they occasionally flood.
Middleton, an avid sportswoman who likes to ski and to tramp, is popular there, mostly because she has not put on airs since getting close to William.
Local resident Brian Ward said Middleton is ready for her new role.
"She is well-suited," he said. "Lots of people round here know her very well because she is a very ordinary girl and she goes down the local pub. Our cricket team used to use the pub down there as their base in the season and on a Sunday she'd be in there and she'd talk to us as she would anyone else. No-one would ever know who she was."
The party business, based in nearby Yattendon, is a family affair, with Kate and her sister Pippa and brother James helping out.
The fact that her parents actually work for a living - both started off in the airline business before founding Party Pieces - is regarded as a source of some hilarity to some fringes of the royal circle.
Some have mocked her by commenting "doors to manual" - a catty reference to her mother's work as a flight attendant - but Middleton, now sporting a half-million-dollar rock on her ring finger, may have the last laugh.
"I think people are incredibly snobby when it comes to her family, who seem hardworking and interesting and interested people," said Richard Dennen, a university friend of the couple who is a contributing editor at Tatler magazine.
"Historically, kings in this country have married out of their gene pool. In recent history, when they've married members of the aristocracy, I don't think it's worked out particularly well."
He said Middleton will inevitably become a fashion icon who will be compared with Diana, who graced thousands of magazine covers around the world before her death.
Middleton has managed to retain a squeaky-clean image despite an obvious penchant for night-life when she and William are in London.
They are inveterate clubbers often seen in London's priciest venues, where they are usually welcomed like - sorry - royalty. But Middleton almost always leaves the clubs looking her best, so paparazzi photos of her are almost always flattering, even if William sometimes looks the worse for wear.
It may be the magic of youth - or the blessings of good bone structure - but Middleton seems to project joie de vivre, not Keith Richards-style decadence, even when leaving posh nightclubs at 2 or 3 in the morning.
There is no question that Middleton faces a wrenching transition from private citizen to royal personage. Unlike Princess Diana, however, she has had years to get ready for that role and has already received some coaching on how to deal with the constant media scrutiny and the ever-present paparazzi.
She also has a university education, which Diana - only 20 when she became Princess of Wales - never obtained. Middleton earned a degree in art history, which was William's focus before he switched to geography.
"She is the best-prepared princess for the future that there has been," said Robert Jobson, author of William and Kate: The Love Story.
"She has had a chance to get to understand what is going on inside and outside the Royal Family."
