The Duchess of Cambridge, 39, was born on January 9, 1982, at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. She grew up in the villages of Bradfield and Chapel Row in West Berkshire, where her parents still live.
She did, however, attend St Andrews prep school in Pangbourne for nine years until she was thirteen.
Kate has been described by staff as “very hardworking, very polite, and friendly,” as well as “very kind to the younger children.”
Kate went on to Marlborough College in Wiltshire after that.
Pangbourne was ranked in the Top 200 Places to Live series by Muddy Stilettos, an insider’s urban guide to the countryside. The village has it all, according to Muddy Stilettos, with a picturesque river, “cosy pubs, and you can whizz into London in less than an hour.”
Clarissa Sebag-Monetfiore, a classmate of Kate’s, spoke about the Duchess shortly after her engagement to William was announced.
“I am bombarded with questions about her ‘set’ as someone vaguely associated with the future Queen of England,” she said.
“An American recently inquired, ‘Was Kate queenly at school?’
Sebag-Montefiore claimed in the Guardian piece that Kate was not a “snooty Sloane.”
“Not in the least,” says the author.
“Kate was ordinary, hardworking, athletic, and easy-going,” the ex-Marlborough student continued.
Celebrities such as George Michael and Led Zeppelin have lived in the village of Pangbourne.
Kate has visited her hometown of Berkshire several times since becoming Duchess of Cambridge, including last December at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Pangbourne is a small village on the outskirts of Reading, about an hour’s drive from Paddington station.
Kenneth Grahame, the author of The Wind in the Willows, retired to a cottage in Pangbourne after being inspired by the area.
Basildon Park, which is maintained by The National Trust, is also close to Pangbourne.
The film Pride and Prejudice was filmed in Basildon Park.
