As the world waits for the birth of a new royal baby, the story of Kate Middleton’s days as a student at Marlborough College have been revealed – together with the reason why she became one of its high profile pupils.
The saga is told by Marcia Moody, who has been playing the waiting game too while giving birth to the first biography of the girl who married her prince and became the Duchess of Cambridge – and a future Queen.
Marcia’s biography was due to be published on July 18, the predicted date for the arrival of the first born for the royal couple, but as the hype has reached a hiatus, it has now been released for all to read.
And in time for all to ponder whether a baby boy or girl duly arrives any moment at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, and what name he or she is finally given capturing the nation’s attention.
Marcia, who lives in Salisbury, has some experience of royal events having been features editor and then royal correspondent of OK Magazine and to have accompanied the Duke and Duchess on their Canadian tour and, subsequently, Prince Harry in the Caribbean.
And she tells how Kate became a student at Marlborough College because she had been shocked at the way she was bullied, age 14, at Downe House School, in Thatcham, Berkshire, just a 10-minute drive from her home.
“Kate was the product of a loving and safe childhood that was so idyllic it could have been lifted from the pages of an Enid Blyton book – with marshmallow cakes and rounds of ‘Ging Gang Goolie’ round the camp fire,” writes Marcia.
“Although she had travelled a little, she wasn’t worldly wise – she had romantic notions and old fashioned values… Kate was therefore an easy target as a goodie-goodie for the harder more mature girls who were all about breaking the rules.”
She points out that Kate was set apart because she was not a boarder at Downe House and adds: “At a time in life when it is thought of as cool to be experimenting with drinking, smoking and boys, Kate was soft and sweet natured, and still more interested in school work and sports. Former pupil Emma Sayle recalls, ‘Downe House was a great shock, but it is a fighting school. She was bullied.”
Kate departed after two terms for Marlborough College, where she undoubtedly made her mark, particularly in hockey, tennis and netball and, at 16, passing 11 GCSEs. She even dared to dress up as Cilla Black in a students’ version of Blind Date and, aided by three friends, sing “I’ll be there for you,’ a song that was to have a future romantic resonance.
Her hard work resulted in her becoming a prefect, student Charlie Leslie recalling that she was “level-headed and down to earth… an absolutely phenomenal girl – really popular, talented, creative and sporty.”
Indeed, boys at Marlborough started noticing her “and she participated, along with other classmates, in the organised snog, where friends would act as intermediaries, passing a note to the object of the individuals’ affection.
“The pair would then get together at the weekends before going back to their respective dorms to compare notes. Kate’s favourite was a tall boy with chiselled cheekbones and dirty-blond hair called Willem Marx.
“It was a fleeting teenage fancy, but the pair remained friends and socialised together in London on more than one occasion a decade later.
“It was well-known that Kate was very picky with her affections and she didn’t find many boys attractive – from an early age she had self-respect – and while she particularly liked Willem, she thought a lot of the other boys were ‘rough’.
“She was very much a girl’s girl and would go with friends every Wednesday to the Polly Tea Rooms for tea and blueberry muffins.”
But, as the biography notes, it was only after an eight-year romance with Prince William at St Andrews University – and it included one nasty break – that she finally walked down the aisle to become his bride in what has become a well-documented fairytale story.
Marcia concludes: “I think Kate’s pretty similar to how she comes across, engaged, intelligent, knowledgeable and very empathetic. “She’s got a cheeky side to her to which William has referred – and I think she’s still a bit of a tomboy at heart.”
Kate: A Biography is published by Michael O’Mara Books, £12.99.
