Photos Show Kate Middleton’s Transformation From Cute Little Girl To Beautiful Princess
The British royal family really didn’t seem to be having a good time of it before Kate Middleton came along. Not only were they frequently dogged by scandal, but the British public generally thought of them as being stuffy old throwbacks to a bygone age. Luckily, though, Middleton appeared to change all that. In fact, her marriage to Prince William shot the royal approval ratings right back up again. But how did she get to that point? How did a “commoner” with no royal blood end up as beloved as she is? Well, these photos suggest that although she wasn’t born a princess, she always had it in her to become one.
Meet the Middletons
Catherine “Kate” Middleton was born in 1982 and came from humble beginnings – at least, for a royal. To everyone else, though, the Middletons were, and remain, upper-middle class. Her dad, Michael Middleton, was a supervisor at British Airways, while Carole, her mother, also worked for the airline, as a flight attendant.
She spent her early years in Jordan
What’s more, Michael’s job at British Airways allowed him to move the family – baby sister Pippa included – to Jordan for a few years when his first daughter was just two. And while there, Kate was enrolled in an esteemed nursery school, where she mixed with kids from many different cultures and was taught both Arabic and English. Those language skills and the ability to fraternize with anyone would prove to be good training for a future royal family member.
Kate started out as a tomboy
By the time Middleton was five years old, meanwhile, her parents were back in the U.K. And they went on to rake in millions with Party Pieces, the mail-order party supply company they’d set up. But little Kate seemingly didn’t use her parents’ money for pink things and princess dresses. On the contrary, in fact: she was definitely more of a tomboy.
Her first love
Indeed, Middleton’s first real love – before Prince William – seemed to be sports. In 1986 she started going to St Andrew’s School in Berkshire, England and, in the process, discovered talents for tennis, rounders, and hockey. She also discovered something – or someone – else.
