When it comes to royalty like Kate Middleton, it can be difficult to imagine them getting bullied while growing up. After all, these famous royals often go to schools with tuition costs higher than many people get paid, and a large part of why their parents pay so much is so their children can be treated like pampered princesses.
Now, however, there are reports that Kate Middleton was severely bullied at school, to the point where she felt downright traumatized and had to move. Just where was this school? What was the bullying like, and how did Kate get the last laugh on her bullies? Keep reading to discover the answers!
Where did Kate Middleton go to secondary school?
When Kate Middleton first went to secondary school, she attended Downe House in Newbury. This is a famous all-girls boarding school located in Cold Ash, and even though Kate had not yet married William (meaning she didn’t have access to the royal coffers), her parents thought it was worth the cost to send her there.
And boy, was there a cost. According to GetReading, Kate’s parents shelled out a whopping £28,000 per year so their daughter could get a top-notch education. Unfortunately, Kate’s eventual living arrangements soon told her parents exactly how much she was enjoying her time at the boarding school.
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Kate’s unconventional living arrangements
While some parents find it cold, one of the main reasons that boarding schools exist is to give children a taste of independence. The idea is that by the time the children are ready to begin their journey into higher education, they already have years of experience living away from their parents.
That was likely the goal for Kate’s parents and possibly Kate herself. However, Kate chose to stay at her parents’ nearby home instead of staying at the school. This decision essentially completed the circuit of a vicious circle: Kate couldn’t easily make friends because she chose to live away from the other girls. But she chose to live away from the other girls for the simple fact that was was getting severely bullied at school.
Getting bullied at school
While Kate Middleton only married into the royal family, this future Queen of England has certainly mastered the family tradition of having a “stiff upper lip.” We imagine Kate herself would never publicly wallow in the miseries of the past. Nonetheless, two of her former classmates spilled the dirty details of what went down at Downe house.
As reported by Marca, Kate’s dorm mate at the new school (more on this later), Gemma Williamson, summed up the bullying experience very succinctly. “Apparently she had been bullied very badly and she certainly looked thin and pale. She had very little confidence.” And according to Express, a school friend named Jessica Hay elaborated further: “Some of the girls there were horrible. She was picked on because she was perfect…She was not the type to stick up for herself.”
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An official denial from the school
We doubt that too many people ever try to correct Kate Middleton these days, especially since she’s married to the future King of England. Nonetheless, these stories about Kate being bullied while at Downe House were enough to make her old headmistress speak up and essentially contradict this account of what happened to Kate.
As reported by Express, former headmistress Susan Cameron clarified that while Kate may have had a negative time at the boarding school, her experiences may not have risen to the level of bullying. “She may well have felt like a fish out of water, or unhappily not in the right place,” she said. “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.”
Continuing, Cameron clarified that the “real” bullying “certainly didn’t happen” and that Kate likely faced simple “teasing.” However, she sees this as “all a part of the normal competition of growing up, of establishing a pecking order.” Considering that her former alleged bullies now have to bow down to future Queen Kate, though, it looks like the pecking order worked out for her after all.
A new school and a new Kate
Fortunately for Kate, her parents didn’t make her finish her time at Downe House. Halfway through the term, she left Downe and began attending Marlborough College. By all accounts, she was much happier after she moved and had an easier time making friends.
In fact, one of the main reasons we know about this early bullying in her life is that one of her dorm mates from the new school discussed it. And that meant Kate was once comfortable discussing the matter with her, which meant she had come very far from the scared girl who wanted to live with her parents rather than live with the other girls at the school.
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How this experience has affected Kate as a parent
While Kate may not say much about her time being bullied, her negative experiences have certainly shaped how she raises her own children. And in particular, her experiences led to a major change in how she wants her children to learn.
As Yahoo! reports, Jennie Bond recently said as much when discussing Kate getting personally involved in finding the right school and eventually deciding on Lambrook School. “The Prince and Princess of Wales have made it clear that their young family will, as far as possible, come first and that includes sending all three to day school, rather than having them as boarders away from home.” This is a big deal because members of the Royal Family have historically all attended boarding school.
Furthermore, Bond specifically mentioned the bullying and said that Kate’s negative school experiences “completely influenced the way she wants her children to be educated, coupled with her belief and research into early years development” and that she deliberately chose a school that values “kindness and exclusivity.”