They were carefree days before the world became entranced by their every movement.
This is Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa as they’ve never been seen before, enjoying an exuberant holiday in Ibiza with their family and Prince William.
Taken in 2006, these previously unseen pictures capture a fleeting moment in the lives of the couple when they could behave like ordinary twentysomethings, unencumbered by the responsibilities they now carry as the new stars of the Royal Family.
Athletic in Ibiza, Pippa Middleton performs a flawless backflip in to the warm waters of the Mediterranean as an admiring Kate looks on from the stern of the motor yacht
Playful: Pippa Middleton climbs back aboard as William jokingly grabs Kate; right, the sisters relax on deck, with Kate using her camera
Sunshine days: William, in red shorts, with Pippa Middleton (left), Carole, in green bikini, and other holiday guests
They show the Prince larking around with Kate and Pippa, the girls’ mother Carole and their brother James on a boat belonging to Carole’s brother Gary Goldsmith during a week-long sunshine holiday to Ibiza.
Pippa shows off her athletic prowess -- and her enviably toned physique -- performing a backwards dive into the sea.
Heir in the air, Watched by Carole, Kate, James (in the patterned shorts) and Pippa, William attempts a backflip from the boat...
... but the young royal finishes with an ungainly belly-flop into the water
Making waves, The Prince failed to match Pippa’s graceful aquatic display
Her Royal Hotness: Pippa Middleton in her bridesmaid’s dress at her sister’s wedding
Carole, who won admiration at the wedding for her elegant appearance, also reveals a youthfully trim figure in an emerald green bikini.
Meanwhile, in his red swimming shorts, William could be any young man eager to impress his girlfriend by performing a backflip -- which somehow turns into a belly-flop by the time he hits the water.
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The pictures reveal the extent to which the Middletons invited William into the heart of their family.
During their week in Ibiza, they stayed at Gary’s £5million villa, dubbed ’La Maison de Bang Bang’.
Gary, a multi-millionaire property developer, later became the black sheep of the family after he was caught offering drugs to an undercover reporter.
But back in 2006, the public scrutiny the Middletons would later experience had not yet truly begun.
It was a year after William and Kate had graduated from St Andrews University, and William had just begun his military training at Sandhurst.
At just 24, neither of them had any idea what the future would hold and were simply enjoying their time together.
The following year, Kate and William split for a period, and when they reunited there was a sense of inevitability that they would eventually marry.