All about Kate19

“From gangly schoolgirl to beautiful princess, we look behind the scenes of the life of the “perfectly ordinary” bride-to-be.”

Although Kate is often referred to as an ordinary civilian, just like Diana and the late Queen Mother were, a peek into her past confirms that she really is very "normal" indeed. Whereas Diana's father was an earl, and the Queen Mum had landed gentry in her ancestry, Kate's parents are solidly middle class — in fact, her grandparents were once decidedly working class.

Kate's mother Carole was working as an air stewardess when she met Michael Middleton, a flight dispatcher responsible for co-ordination aircraft arrivals and departures. The couple married in 1980, and Kate, their eldest child, was born in January 1982 — the same year that Diana gave birth to William.

As a toddler, Kate and her baby sister Philippa spent two years in Jordan with the family when Michael took a job with British Airways there. Kate picked up rudimentary Arabic at nursery school in the capital, Amman. Hack in the UK, they settled in leafy suburbia, in the village of Bradfield Southend, near Reading in Berkshire, and Kate's brother James was born.

When the girls were at preschool, Carole developed a reputation for throwing fantastic children's parties and started making up party bags to sell to other mothers. Then, when Kate went off to the local primary school, Carole took the brave move of establishing her own business - Party Pieces - which, according to the website, would "inspire other mothers to create magical parties at home and to make party organizing a little easier", She targeted local mothers with catalogues featuring photographs of Kate and Pippa modeling some of the products. Dressed in T-shirts with their initials on the front, the Middleton sisters' cute look sold their another’s products perfectly.

As the business grew, the Middleton girls were moved to a private prep school, St Andrew's in Pangbourne. Initially a day pupil, Kate became a weekly boarder at 11. While she did well academically, it was in sport that she excelled. She was captain of the school netball team and broke a series of school swimming records. In her final year, she was named best all-round sportswoman.

"She wasn't particularly pretty as a young girl," recalls Denise Allford, one of her house parents at the time. "She wore braces on her teeth from the age of 12; she was thin and much taller than the other girls - quite gangly really."

Carole was enterprising enough to be one of the first to create her own website and, with business booming the family moved further into the countryside on the outskirts of Chapel Row in Berkshire where they live today.

Ahfter passing her Common Entrance exam, Kate became a boarder at Downe House, a school ii few miles from home, but by the end of her first term, her parents had decided to move her (there were allegations of bullying), and just after her 14th birthday, Kate started boarding at the prestigious Marlborough College public school.

Marlborough has since been dubbed the "First Wives Club" because the Prime Minster, the Chancellor and now the future king have chosen old Marlburians for their partners. Kate joins the ranks of Samantha Cameron, Frances Osbourne and the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sally Becow.

She worked hard, but remained very sporty, becoming captain of the school hockey team and playing in the first pair at tennis. She left with three A-levels: A grades in math’s and art and a B in English.

Like William, Kate had a gap year before university and spent much of that time in Italy, taking a 12-week course in Italian at the British Institute. She and her sister were rather cruelly dubbed the "Wisteria Sisters" in society circles because, it was said. They were "highly decorative, terribly fragrant and with a ferocious ability To climb".

By the time Kate arrived at the University of St Andrews in October 2001, the whole world knew that William would be there and, as they were doing the same history of art degree and staying in the same halls of residence (St Salvator's Hall, nicknamed "Sally's") it was inevitable they would meet.

Over the first few months, Kate became a member of William's St Andrews set. Although the baying packs of press photographers had promised to leave William alone and not trail around after him at university, royal reporters soon spotted Kate and lined her up as possible love interest.

She threw herself into university life, working and playing hard she briefly dated fellow student Rupert Finch) and by the end of the first year had been publicly dubbed "the prettiest girl at Sally's". But the university's annual charity fashion show towards the end of the first year gave the paparazzi the picture opportunity they had been waiting for. As Kate shimmied clown the catwalk swearing nothing but a sheer shift dress over her underwear, photographers snapped widely. Will, who had paid £200 for a front-row seat, is believed to have turned to his friend Fergus Boyd and exclaimed, "Wow, Kate's hot!" Plans were already afoot for Kate to share a flat with Will and two of their closest friends (Fergus Boyd and Olivia Bleasdale) in the heart of town during their second year at St Andrews.

The four of them had all become firm friends, with Kate clearly very much a part of William's world, but no one really knows the exact point that friendship evolved into love behind those bomb-proofed and heavily guarded door.