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Despite her good looks, Kate Middleton appears to have left little impression on the academic staff at St Andrews university. ‘She was another girl in a pashmina,’ says one tutor candidly.

‘When I read about her charismatic personality — well, maybe it’s developed, but it wasn’t that obvious then.’

Some of her fellow female students even admit to having felt slightly sorry for her. While others were having the time of their lives, Kate diligently went to lectures and seemed to put in more work than most.

Indeed, she struck some who shared history of art seminars and tutorials with her as seeming rather shy and vulnerable. She didn’t hang around with the girls in her year — and didn’t seem to like the ones that hung around Prince William.