Duchess Kate reveals bitterly, “I was once treated by Prince William as a servant,” the secret behind which has sent shivers across England.

It’s been a year filled with shocking rumors and unsavory implications for the royal family and, clearly, the year isn’t over yet. Now, per Marie Claire UK, a royal biographer has made claims about Prince William’s treatment of Kate Middleton when they first started dating. And, to be honest, they’re disconcerting. But before we dive into the details, suffice it to say any unsubstantiated rumors about the royal family (or anyone else, for that matter) should be taken with a grain of salt.

Most followers of the royal family are familiar with the love story of William and Kate, the now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They struck up a friendship during their days at St. Andrews and remained friends for two years before they actually started dating. Ever since then — aside from one brief breakup in 2007 — William and Kate have endeared themselves to the public as a rock-solid couple with nothing but love and mutual respect for one another. However, in his biography, William & Catherine: Their Story, royal biographer Andrew Morton is claiming that William “treated Kate like a servant” when the couple officially started dating in 2003. “William could be an overwhelming presence at times,” Morton says in the book, elaborating, “Kate felt taken for granted — treated like a servant rather than a girlfriend.”

That’s a pretty bold claim, no? Morton continues in the book to lay the case for the defense of this claim, noting that he spoke to one of William and Kate’s university colleagues, Michael Chong. “He could be flip and curt with her. She didn’t like it when he ignored her and got into conversation with someone as though she wasn’t there. He expected Kate to run after him and the longer they knew each other, the more he seemed to keep her on a tight leash,” Chong reportedly told Morton.

While it’s within the realm of possibility that Morton’s claims are true, they seem to be in direct opposition to the William the world has come to know. Not to mention, Kate doesn’t exactly strike us as the type to let a man treat her “like a servant” or to hold her tongue if he were to treat her disrespectfully.