The topic of childhood bullying and how adults can identify and curtail it has gained the international spotlight over the past year, following a rash of teen suicides and the recent rise of Internet folk hero Casey Heynes. But Heynes, who first made headlines when a video of him bodyslamming one of his tormentors went viral earlier this month, may soon no longer be the most famous bullying victor.
Apparently Princess-to-Be Kate Middleton was harassed so relentlessly as a 13-year-old high school freshman, she was forced to switch schools, Australian tabloid New Idea reports. The glossy leads this week with an expose on Middleton, titled “Beating My Bullies: How Kate Got The Better of Her Tormentors.”
“Within two terms Kate was cruelly rejected by her peers’ at Catholic all girls’ school Downe House, reports the mag, and was ‘thin and pale and had very little confidence.”
Parents Carole and Michael moved the eldest of their two daughters to private school Marlborough College, where she was a nervous new recruit.
“It didn’t help that the upper sixth form guys had a tradition that, whenever a new girl arrived, they would hold up a napkin with a mark out of 10 on it. Poor Catherine only got low marks, like one or two. It was awful,” blabs a former classmate.
In contrast, Kate’s future groom, Britain’s Prince William was reportedly extremely popular at Eton, where he attended secondary school.
“He was always picked first or to captain on various sports teams,” says a former pupil.
Like anyone would leave a prince standing there until last pick.