Was there anything Kate didn't excel at?

[Mommymoments]

Having read many articles Kate (pippa & James also) is so accomplished since she was tiny.
She is very sporty.. strong swimmer, excellent skier, hockey player, lacrosse, athletics, netball.. Plays piano very well & also was lead in schools drama production. Excelled at art.
It seems the Middleton's didn't do much in the way of equistrian sports?
Would love my dc to be as accomplished & well rounded. Can't afford Marlborough or any private for that matter!

She's not likeable (according to William's friends... maybe she was just shy?), and is/was lazy (noted by the queen). Her cousin said she's not bothered in things that don't have anything immediately to do with her. She doesn't research her causes or her visits. She doesn't practise speaking because she can't be bothered (it's not lack of time or resources).

AAB from a school like Marlborough suggests reasonably academic rather than excelling academically to me. And doing both maths and English, definitely an all rounder. I can imagine she was quite smart, conscientious and a hard worker as that’s what she’s shown herself to be so far in royal life.
And a generally capable person who can turn her hand to most things. She seemed to have a natural talent for sport but just playing the piano well doesn’t mean you’re naturally musical. It just means your parents paid for the lessons and you did the practise which you would do if you were a conscientious child.
But accomplished I would say definitely yes. And a better role model for young girls than plenty in the public eye though have to say I wouldn’t recommend her ‘day job’ to anyone.

The Middleton sisters lucked out!

Having a job (the proper kind where you actually have to turn up for work. Helping a bit part time in your family's business is not quite the same.)

Don’t know her, so can’t comment specifically, but so much this -

“Private education can train mediocre kids to be decent in many areas and excel at exams with enough tutoring.”

I was shocked at how “intellectually challenged” the private school kids I met at uni were. Private schools seem to be able to get some very average people excellent grades and some frankly thick people good grades. If someone went to a good private school, it’s best to ignore their academic experience. Chances are it will have no relationship to their abilities.

Especially as her prep school is next to a stables (we used to ride through their grounds).

I’ve always been surprised she doesn’t ride.

Think Carole missed a trick with the horses

Ah don’t make her feel bad, it worked out ok😄

“Private education can train mediocre kids to be decent in many areas and excel at exams with enough tutoring.”

I agree it was very eye opening at university how much private education is a benefit - obviously it must do something if people pay but even so.

Fair point! Although I see that Charlotte is learning to ride and assume the other ones will too.

🤣😂

Nothing to do with the child being royal of course!

This is funny OP. She was brought up in an upper middle class way. All the girls brought up this way will be doing lots of sports, music and other extra curricular activities.
It does not mean she did not work hard at them, and she does seem good at sports, but it is not unusual accomplishments for a girl of her background.

Saying a 9 month old has leadership skills is just batshit crazy.

@Leftbutcameback it did Pippa no harm either! Although apparently Pippa mixed with a very countyish set & is supposed to have spend most weekends at the aristocratic country piles of her friends... Bet she was cursing mummy & daddy for not sending her for riding lessons 😂

@JuliesBicycle i agree with you. I guess it just highlights how much time & money the Middleton's pumped into the kids. I have three myself & can only dream of giving them those sort of opportunities.

Right.

It's easy to relax and excel when one isn't worrying about how to make ends meet.

Out of interest what would be "incredible"? The vast majority of people only take 3 a levels and the highest possible grades would be 3 As, which she was one mark off, so what would someone have to do to be exceptional?

Only about 20 percent of people got an "a" grade when she took them (I cba to look up the exact year but early 2000s so it's a fairly good achievement to get 2 in "hard" a levels." I'm not a fan of the royal family but this is just bitchy.

I agree OP it's unusual for someone to be clever AND sporty AND artistic AND musical. I agree private school facilities and family money clearly helps but you can't polish a turd (a saying that proves my lowly origins...!)

I don't think that means KM is an amazing person we should all worship or anything but it's fair enough to note that its unusual to be above averagely good in a number of different areas.

Yep .
what she excels at is staying 2 steps behind her husband and smiling.
seems like a waste of potential to me.

Looks like the hobbies we know of were carefully chosen (swimming, skiing, piano, hockey, lacrosse) all middle class activities..

There are lots of DCs at private schools who don't get those grades at A level and who don't set sporting records for their schools. Kate does seem to enjoy sports and have an aptitude for them.
As for being musical, I'm not sure. Being reasonably accomplished on an instrument is fairly common. Even in our state school if you played an instrument at all you'd probably be at least grade 6 by age 14.

Well 3As, obviously. I am a similar age to her and in my (state) school there were a number of people who got 3As in Scottish Advanced Highers, which are considered slightly harder than A Levels (worth more UCAS points). AAB is undoubtedly good, but it isn't exceptional, which I'd take to mean being in the top few percent rather than top 15-20%. I think Kate is fabulous but her strength has always been sold as her being an excellent sportswoman, rather than scholar.

She did well at university. She doesnt have to be bloody Einstein to be a well rounded person. Just not as dumb as Harry.

You need centuries of inbreeding to be as dumb as Harry.

You can't resist criticising Harry even on a thread that has nothing to do with him.
Personally I think he is more intelligent as he got out.

Throw enough money at someone and they will be "accomplished". Have enough friends who also have loads of money thrown at them and they will say how "accomplished" someone is. "Accomplished" is a word the upper classes use to describe "average" without appearing average. If she were truly good at pretty much anything nobody would need to describe her at all - she'd have proof. Not a fan of the monarchy or their hangers on, but Princess Anne is "accomplished" at equestrian eventing - her gold medals prove that. Kate just plays a piano....

Bingo! Only took 40 replies to bring Harry and his intelligence in it!

Thanks guys, I owe myself a drink tonight as I had a bet on it!