Teenage rite of passage Kate Middleton missed out on while at school

The future Queen joined Marlborough College - a prestigious co-ed boarding school - in 1996 and she quickly made a tight group of friends. But she didn't always follow the pack...

Kate Middleton blossomed during the four years she spent at Marlborough College - but she refrained from one typical rite of passage enjoyed by the majority of her peers.

Prince William's future wife joined the prestigious co-ed boarding school in 1996, having moved after reportedly enduring bullying at her previous school, Downe House. Kate is believed to have felt at home from the start of her time at Marlborough, where she joined the school's cosy all-girls boarding house, Elmhurst. Contemporaries recalled her as the perfect pupil to the Daily Mail, remembering her as listening to her Walkman, watching Friends and indulging in Marmite sandwiches.

Meanwhile, housemistress Ann Patching recounted her former pupil's love of lasagne and pasta bakes but noted that Kate "always stayed very slim'. She also made a very close group of friends, which included fellow members of the hockey team. But there was one thing that set her apart. According to the publication, Kate remained a responsible role model and was never caught with illicit alcohol - unlike her friends, one of whom once confided: "A group of us used to sneak off to Reading to go drinking but she would never join us."

Another pal, Gemma, revealed that it was when 16-year-old Kate returned to the school for sixth form after the holidays, she had transformed into "an absolute beauty". But despite the fact she turned heads, the future royal didn't have many romantic entanglements. Her first kiss was reportedly with a boy named Woody, who was the older brother of Alice St John Webster, one of Kate's closest friends.

She is also said to have had a brief romance with Harry Blakelock, captain of the rugby team, which fizzled out after he left school, reportedly leaving Kate 'heartbroken'. By the time Kate was ready to leave Marlborough College, she had made a big impact and was voted 'Person most likely to be loved by everybody' in her yearbook.

Kate gained 11 GCSEs at the College before going on to achieve As in Maths and Art and a B in English for her A-levels. Just like William, she took a gap year before going to university - and actually did a surprisingly similar trip, undertaking a Raleigh International programme in Chile.

Then in 2001, she headed to St Andrews University in Scotland to study History of Art - and met her future husband, who was enrolled on the same course. Kate is not Marlborough's only famous alma mater. Other notable former pupils include Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, wartime poet Siegfried Sassoon, writer Dick King-Smith, singer Chris de Burgh and comedian Jack Whitehall. Kate's younger sister Pippa Middleton and Princess Eugenie are also Old Marlburians, as is Samantha Cameron, and Olivia Grosvenor, the new Duchess of Westminster.