Kate Middleton Underwent an Emergency Operation in High School

Future queen? Yes. Drama queen? Definitely not.

The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge Visit Coventry
(Image credit: Max Mumby/Indigo)

  • One thing you can never call Kate Middleton is a drama queen. In fact, the Duchess of Cambridge has actually been known t0 downplay serious situations regarding her own health.
  • When she was a student at Marlborough, Kate discovered a lump on her head that a doctor ordered her to get removed immediately with an emergency surgery.
  • Royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl wrote about the incident in her book Kate: The Future Queen.

Kate Middleton might be the future Queen of England, but she's not a drama queen. Is there an opposite of drama queen? Like, as in, someone who weirdly downplays objectively dramatic life events? Because Kate might actually be that instead.

Case in point: When Kate was in high school, she had a major health scare, followed by an emergency operation and throughout the whole ordeal was like, "Meh, NBD."

In her book Kate: The Future Queen, royal expert and biographer Katie Nicholl relays the story, which is just terrifying. Apparently, during Kate's time at Marlborough, she discovered a lump on the left side of her head. The school called Kate's mom, who promptly took her to the doctor. That doctor ordered an emergency operation to remove the lump.

Magazine, Design, Pattern, Poster, Child model, Pattern, Photography, Child,

(Image credit: Amazon Prime)

"I can remember the incident and her having an operation," Ann Patching, who worked at Marlborough for years, told Nicholl. "I don’t recall anything happening on the hockey pitch [field] that had anything to do with the lump. Catherine had the operation during her term time. She was back at school very soon afterwards. As usual, nothing was too much of a big deal for her. You could never accuse Catherine of being a drama queen, but Carole was very worried, as any mother would be."

The evidence of Kate's emergency operation is still around today, in the form of a scar on her hairline that you can still spot in pictures of the Duchess.

Blue, Event, Suit, Fun, Night, Photography, Formal wear, Electric blue,

(Image credit: Getty Images)

"Privately, she and William—who uncannily also bears a scar on his head from being struck by a golf club at age nine—are said to refer to their wounds as their 'Harry Potter scars,'" Nicholl wrote.

Just another thing Will and Kate have in common.


For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

subscribe here

RELATED STORIES
Weekend Editor at Cosmopolitan

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.