Being a Duchess is a full-time job, something Kate Middleton knows all too well, becoming the Duchess of Cambridge when she married Prince William in 2011.
Being a royal is not a figurehead position – there are speeches to make, charities to support and a long list of rules and regulations to follow at all times.
But Kate was more than prepared for the role, with it emerging this week that she was actually a career girl before joining the royal family.
That’s right. Kate is not only one of the first princesses to have a university degree, she also worked her way up the career ladder.
But what were the careers she pursued? The entertainment and fashion industries.
Yes, Kate started in entertainment, working for her family business, Party Pieces, a brand that sells high-end party supplies for birthdays, weddings and celebrations in general.
And then she moved into fashion buying, becoming an accessories buyer for fashion brand Jigsaw, something that according to the brand’s co-founder, Belle Robinson, she was particularly good at.
‘I have to say I was so impressed by her,’ Belle explained of Kate in a 2003 interview with the Evening Standard. ‘There were days when there were TV crews at the end of the drive. We’d say: “Listen, do you want to go out the back way?” And she’d say: “To be honest, they’re going to hound us until they’ve got the picture. So why don’t I just go, get the picture done, and then they’ll leave us alone.”’
Belle continued: ‘I thought she was very mature for a 26-year-old, and I think she’s been quite good at neither courting the press nor sticking two fingers in the air at them. I don’t think I would have been so polite. She sat in the kitchen at lunchtime and chatted with everyone from the van drivers to the accounts girls. She wasn’t precious.’
Kate – career girl AND Duchess. What can’t she do?
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire UK
