Kate Middleton Reveals Her Dream Job “That Didn’t Quite Happen” Because She Married Prince William

Rachel BurchfieldThu, October 15, 2026 at 1:28 PM UTC

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Kate Middleton on September 24, 2026.Credit: GettyThe Gist -

Kate Middleton has been a full-time working royal for 15 years now, since marrying Prince William in 2011.

If she hadn’t met William at the University of St. Andrews, the Princess of Wales previously shared that she’d like to be a teacher at one of her alma maters.

“That didn’t quite happen,” Kate said of her dream job outside of being a future queen.

Kate Middleton is thriving in her role as Princess of Wales and will one day be her husband Prince William’s queen consort. But what if she had never met William while both were first-year students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland?

Kate Middleton and Prince William on September 22, 2026.Credit: Getty

Kate gave insight into her dream job while visiting her old school, St. Andrews School in Pangbourne, Berkshire (not the same school as the university she attended). Kate was visiting the school to open a new hockey pitch, before giving a speech where she described her nine years there as the “happiest years of my life” (per Hello!).

“It is such a treat to be back here at St. Andrew’s,” she said during the visit in 2012. “I absolutely loved my time here—they were some of my happiest years, which makes it so incredibly special to be here today. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that when I had to leave, I told my mother that I was going to come back to be a teacher.”

Kate Middleton speaking at St. Andrew’s School on November 30, 2012.Credit: Getty

She added, “While that didn’t quite happen, I was thrilled to have been asked back today on St. Andrew’s Day.” Deputy head teacher Richard Hudson remembered Kate from her time at the school, describing her as “sporty” and “very hardworking, very polite and friendly, [and] very kind to the younger children.”

Though Kate didn’t end up becoming a teacher, she has made a core tenet of her royal work early childhood development—which allows her to interact with young people on a regular basis. And apparently if being a teacher didn’t work out, Kate had other plans in mind as a backup plan—during a 2016 visit to Cornwall, the then-Duchess of Cambridge said she was teaching her children Prince George and Princess Charlotte “all about the farm at Sandringham,” Bea Hodge said, ultimately leading to her saying that “she’d secretly like to be a young farmer” (per Elle Australia).

Kate Middleton at St. Andrew’s School on November 30, 2012.Credit: Getty

Kate Middleton with children on May 14, 2026.Credit: Getty

Before marrying William in 2011 and becoming a full-time working royal, Kate held several jobs, like working as a deckhand at Ocean Village Marina in Southampton, where she worked for up to 11 hours a day on boats, earning just $75 per day.

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“It was back-breaking work,” Cal Tomlinson, one of her co-workers, told royal biographer Katie Nicholl for her book Kate: The Future Queen (per People). “Kate mucked in and was very professional…She was competent and confident, but very unassuming.”

Kate Middleton on September 30, 2026.Credit: Getty

Kate also worked as a waitress in college—though she told Mary Berry in the 2019 BBC special A Berry Royal Christmas that she “was terrible.” After college, she worked at the British fashion brand Jigsaw as an accessories buyer and at her parents’ company Party Pieces as a project manager in charge of marketing. When she left the job after getting engaged to William in 2010, she said in her ITV engagement interview that November, “I’ve been working very hard for the family business. I think everyone who I work with, I think, can see that I’m there pulling my weight, and that’s what really matters to me.”

In that same interview, Kate said that as a royal, “I really hope I can make a difference, even in the smallest way,” adding, “I’m willing to learn quickly and work hard. I am looking forward to helping as much as I can.”

Kate Middleton on May 6, 2026.Credit: Getty

Years into her royal life, “She’s hugely influential behind the scenes in hiring and decision-making, and they approach it as a team,” a source told The Times of the Prince and Princess of Wales, adding that the couple is “a good double act.”

“I asked someone who knows Kate and William very well whether she is ready for the next step up to queen, and the response was a categoric ‘Yes,’” Nicholl said, per The Mirror.

“Kate’s had to go through some incredibly hard, private moments very publicly, and she has navigated those with grace and courage and led by example,” she added. “She might not set out to be a role model, but she is a role model to many people and she takes her duty incredibly seriously.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”