Kate Middleton suddenly switched schools aged 14 for an upsetting reason

Being a teenage girl can be brutal at times.

Trying to fit in and navigate cliques are part and parcel of adolescence but it looks like it was something Kate Middleton struggled with in her day. The now-duchess changed schools aged 14 after she had trouble with certain classmates. Kate left Downe House, a private all-girls school in Berkshire, half way through the year in 1996 after ‘teasing' by other pupils, according to The Daily Mail. Her parents chose Marlborough College in Wiltshire for her instead. "Apparently she had been bullied very badly and she certainly looked thin and pale," her Marlborough schoolmate Gemma Williamson told the publication. "She had very little confidence." Her house tutor in her new school said that Kate had suffered with eczema from the stress. "When she arrived she was very quiet. Coming into a big school like Marlborough was difficult, but she settled in quickly,"  Joan Gall said. The news comes as it's reported that Kate is thinking of breaking from royal family tradition with her son George's schooling. The boy had been expected to attend Eton but he may follow in his mum's footsteps and go to Marlborough instead. “They are very keen to allow George to spread his wings as a child and won’t ever do what people expect them to do when it comes to their children," a source said.