After Princess Diana, the Duchess of Cambridge AKA Kate Middleton is possibly the most celebrated royal bahu-rani Britain has seen. Since her engagement to Prince William, we have lived her life through the eyes of the paparazzi, often drawing parallels between her and her late mother-in-law.
Like Diana, her ‘humble’ and ‘common’ background adds to her powerful relatability, and like Diana, people around the world are captivated by her life, their royal fantasy.
Run a simple search with her name, let Google autocomplete it for you, and here’s what you get:
What is Kate Middleton’s net worth?
What is Kate Middleton doing today?
What is Kate Middleton’s diet?
What is Kate Middleton doing now?
This voyeurism is no doubt fed by a media cycle that obsesses over what she wears and how she looks. But there’s more to this new royal than you might have known.
Kate Middleton holds a college degree. So do a lot of people – why is that noteworthy? Well, she would be the first Queen Consort ever (if and when Prince William becomes the King Regent after Queen Elizabeth II) to hold a college degree!
She received a 2:1 (Upper Second-Class) MA (Hons) degree in the History of Art from the University of St Andrews in 2005. In fact, that is where she met Prince William.
Before her, women from the royal family (and those that later joined it) were mostly home-schooled, and topped that off with a year or two at the elite Finishing Schools that teach you the required etiquette of High Class royal life.
In the popular Netflix show, The Crown, loosely based on Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen is shown to hold insecurities stemming from her lack of a proper, formal education. Elizabeth II in The Crown seems to hold resentment for not being allowed access to equal if not better education than the average British citizen.
While we can’t be sure how much of this is fact and how much fiction, from popular beliefs and interviews done around the show, the insecurity is supposed to have come from a (in)famous comment made by celebrated British historian David Starkey, who had called the Queen “poorly educated.”
However, it is a fact that both Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret were home-schooled by their mother and governess Marion Crawford. While it isn’t unusual for women of privilege to opt out of formal schooling, The Queen’s parents too didn’t put faith in the education system beyond the Palace Walls.
"The Queen’s father had disliked school and her mother thought it was more important to have fun,” Professor Kate Williams, author of ‘Young Elizabeth’ had said.
The Queen’s children have, however, all sat for school examinations. Prince Charles and Prince Edward both have 2:2 degree in history from Cambridge University, according to The Telegraph.
The Queen's grandsons, Princes William and Harry, have on the other hand broken family tradition and attended Eton school in Windsor.
Therefore the Duchess of Cambridge’s master’s degree in Art definitely sets a positive precedent for the women in the royal household to go for a college and university education.
Happy Birthday, Kate!
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