Kate Middleton is continuing her recovery from the cancer she was diagnosed with in February. In mid-March, she revealed her diagnosis to the world, and just weeks ago, she made her royal comeback during Trooping the Colour.
While the royals live very public lives, they face problems like any other family. For Prince William and Kate, one of those issues has been about their children’s future and, most recently, where their oldest son, Prince George, will attend school.
The Prince and Princess of Wales reportedly have different views on where they want George to enroll. Kate Middleton’s concerns are deeply rooted in her childhood experiences—she wants to avoid the same horrors she went through.
Kate had a great childhood with her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, who were very successful in their business. They enrolled Kate in a prestigious school, but things turned for the worse.
Kate first attended the all-girls boarding school Downe House, which was supposed to be a significant step toward learning everything she needed for adult life. However, the school—for which Carole and Michael reportedly paid around £28,000 in tuition—became a nightmare for Kate.
Kate Middleton was bullied in school
She studied there during the day but didn’t stay full-time, so she never had the chance to bond with other students and was bullied.
A friend from a later school, Gemma Williamson, told the Daily Mail, “Apparently, she had been bullied very badly, and she certainly looked thin and pale. She had very little confidence.”
Kate was only 13 when she started at Downe House in Berkshire. Every girl was a high achiever, and according to Kate’s former classmate Emma Sayle, the princess hated that the school was “cliquey.”
“It is a very cliquey school, and there was a lot of pressure,” she told RSVP Live, as quoted by Express. “The girls were all high achievers, and there were lots of girls with eating disorders. Everyone wanted to be the best, the fittest, the prettiest. I think Kate was miserable from the start.”
“Being especially slender and a head taller than her peers, she stood out for the wrong reasons and was teased for being gangly and lanky,” royal expert Katie Nicholl added.
“Kate found she was out of her league”
Kate started at the school two years after her peers, and she didn’t ‘live’ there, which made it hard to fit in. Georgina Rylance, a former Downe House student, explained, “You have two years of bonding, your first time away all together.
Even some of the most popular girls in my school had a hard time when they came in at thirteen.”
In her book “Kate: The Future Queen,” Nicholl gives more insight into Kate’s tough time at Downe House. Kate was a great hockey player as a kid, but the school only offered lacrosse, which she had never played. Sadly, she didn’t make the school team despite having the courage to try out.
“Even when it came to sports, where she should have excelled, Kate found she was out of her league,” Nicholl wrote.
According to Kate’s old headmistress, Susan Cameron, the fact that Kate blew the tryout was a “crushing disappointment” for the young girl. Eventually, Kate told her parents about everything she had endured, including the bullying.
The headmistress said Kate was “unsettled and not particularly happy” at school
Cameron told the Mirror, “Certainly, I have no knowledge of any serious bullying at all. But there’s what everyone calls bullying, and there’s actual, real, miserable bullying where someone had a dreadful time.
That certainly didn’t happen. Yes, there would be teasing. It’s all a part of the normal competition of growing up, of establishing a pecking order.”
She continued, “Girls are cliquey by nature, and they can be rather cruel. If you’re attractive, too, that can be seen as rather a threat. They can sense those who are slightly weaker or who haven’t shown their strengths yet, and it’s those girls who are likely to end up being picked on or teased.”
“I think it’s fair to say she was unsettled and not particularly happy. Maybe in Catherine’s case, she just kind of went quiet and didn’t say anything,” the former headmistress continued, later saying that if Kate had been badly bullied, she wouldn’t be the woman she is today.
Ultimately, Kate Middleton left Downe House and moved to Marlborough College, which had a tuition of £12,000 a year. She thrived there and met her first boyfriend.
One summer changed everything
Upon returning from the summer break when she was 16, many things had changed for Kate. She impressed many by being great at hockey and cross-country running. According to her former classmate Gemma Williamson, “every boy in the school” fancied her as she had become “an absolute beauty.”
Her former teacher, Denise Alford, said that a significant change in her appearance was due to the childhood braces she had lost. “Pippa was a tomboy but Kate had lost her braces and looked stunning,” Alford told the Daily Mail. “She was apparently top of the ‘Fit List’ which boys would sometimes pin on the walls. Kate’s confidence grew.”
Kate attended Marlborough College from 1996 to 2000, and then she enrolled at St Andrew’s University, where she met Prince William.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have three wonderful children today. Sadly, this year has been very challenging with Kate’s abdominal surgery and cancer diagnosis in February.
The Princess of Wales made her first royal outing since last year during Trooping the Colour a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic moment for her, her family, and royal fans, but time will tell when we see her next.
Prince William and Kate Middleton were spotted at Eton College with Prince George
Though Prince George won’t join the school until he turns 13, children have to be registered for the school during the year that they turn 10, according to the school’s website.
So what would it mean if George attended Eton? According to The Express’ royal correspondent, Richard Palmer, it says a lot about Kate. “I find it fascinating because the Princess of Wales is spending so much of her life talking about giving children a better start in life, and part of that, she and her advisors have talked about reducing inequality,” he said.
“And there you have her children at a fee-paying independent school, almost certain to go to an expensive fee-paying boarding school later on.”
“The choice of school for the children will tell us a lot about William and Catherine”
“The choice of school for the children will tell us a lot about William and Catherine,” former BBC royal expert Jennie Bond told OK!. “So far, they’ve been such hands-on parents and, personally, I think it would be sad to see them send their children away to boarding school.
I would applaud a decision to keep them as day pupils at schools nearby their home. But I think both William and Catherine were happy at boarding school. I suppose it’s what they know, and perhaps they will want to pass this experience on to their children.”
Bond added, “I imagine it will be all or nothing—in other words, all three will go away to school, or none of them. I will be cheering loudly if they decide to keep their children close and nurture them through their adolescence as they have nurtured them through the young years.”
Because of his own experiences, it was evident that King Charles would not send his children to Gordonstoun. Therefore, William, the future king, was able to stay in London, where he attended Eton College.
Kate Middleton is “heartbroken” over the school choice for Prince George
Last year, the Mirror reported that then-Prince Charles could’ve attended Eton as well. However, Prince Philip argued that it was too close to Windsor and that he wouldn’t have had any privacy.
According to In Touch Weekly, Kate reluctantly agreed to Prince George’s wish to be “just like his father” and attend Eton. But it’s not something she would’ve wanted in the first place because of her own boarding school experiences.
“But she’s still heartbroken. She was horribly bullied at her first boarding school and can’t bear the thought of George suffering through that,” a source said.
Meanwhile, George will be able to visit his family every weekend, the insider told the news outlet. It’s only a five-minute drive from their Windsor home. However, Kate is still worried that she will miss him dearly.
A source further told the Mirror, “Kate thinks sending George to such a stuffy, upper-crust institution goes against all of their efforts to modernize the monarchy.”
“Kate long disagreed with her husband about sending him away, even though it’s tradition,” the source continued, adding that Kate is “finally giving in” to her husband’s wishes.
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