What Kate Middleton’s other teachers had to say about the royal

The Princess of Wales met her former history teacher yesterday for the first time in 25 years.

a delighted Jim Embury, 79, met an equally emotional Kate, 41, during a visit to the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall.where the retiree now works as a part-time volunteer.

The couple embraced and chatted in touching scenes in front of crowds in the port city of Falmouth, with the mother-of-three telling her former teacher: “The things you taught me, I now teach my children.”

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Embury praised the royal, who was on her first joint official visit to the county with Prince William since inheriting the title of Duke and Duchess of Cornwall.

But Canadian Embury, who has a British wife, isn’t Kate’s only former teacher to be reunited with royalty after their school days; In February 2020, the princess met two of her teachers from St Andrew’s Preparatory School during a visit to South Wales.

Kevin Allford and Denise Evans-Allford, who taught Kate, Pippa and James Middleton at the school in Pangbourne, Berkshire, traveled from their Carmathenshire home in the hope of seeing their former student on his visit to Mumbles.

The princess exclaimed “it’s such a small world” after seeing her former teachers outside an ice cream parlor, where Kate and William met local families.

Allford, who remembers the Duchess of Cambridge as part of a “wonderful class of girls”, said: “It was wonderful that she gave us so much time. She said it’s such a small world and she didn’t expect to see her ex-teachers in Swansea.

“We last saw her when she and Pippa went back to school to visit James, she was 14 years old. We haven’t seen her since. Obviously we’ve been following her career. She was in a wonderful class of girls and they got along very well together.

Mr. Alford said that he enjoyed teaching Kate and the other students in his class so much that he asked to do it for another year. Both teachers said how much Kate had liked her time in high school.

“He loved it so much,” said Ms. Evans-Alford, who taught physical education. ‘We had a fantastic time there. She was on my netball team and rounders team. She was wonderful. She hasn’t changed a bit at all, it shows her. Pippa and James were also wonderful.

The princess, who studied at Downe House and Marlborough College. she seemed equally excited about the meeting and she beamed as she spoke to the teachers.

She told the couple: “I want to instill in my children the life I had at St Andrew’s.”

Mr. Alford later added, via 9 honey:'[Kate] He was very hardworking and very conscientious. Obviously she was the same in sports. She was a tremendous athlete and swimmer. I was in charge of swimming and she was very, very good, just like her sister.’

Meanwhile, Kate’s former piano teacher Daniel Nicholls also praised the royal as “absolutely lovely, a really lovely person to teach” in an interview with the BBC ahead of her wedding to William in 2011.

However, Mr Nicholls, who taught the royals from 1993 to 1995, added: “I don’t think anyone would say she was going to be a concert pianist, but she was good at it.” She always did everything she was told.

Yesterday, Mr Embury recounted how he had arrived ‘excited’ at work on his day off to meet his former student for the first time in 25 years, saying: ‘She’s exuberant and just the way she was!’

He said: ‘It was an amazing meeting and the first time I’ve seen Kate for 25 years. She hasn’t changed, not one bit, and she is just as she was: conscientious, considerate, and exuberant.

Mr Embury, who previously unknown to Kate lives and works in the city, added: “She is a wonderful woman.”

He explained: ‘I didn’t know she was coming to the museum until 6am this morning. It was my day off and I only work on Fridays. They asked if we would be available to stand by during the royal visit and of course I wanted to.

“The prospect of meeting Kate after all these years was very exciting, so I went on my day off.”

The soft-spoken Mr Embury made sure he was up front to see his former student from St Andrews Preparatory School, who “had no idea” would be there.

During the ‘meet and greet’ before Kate headed to the museum, he approached her.

She recognized him instantly, hugged him and said, ‘Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, that has set me back!

Mr Embury, originally from Ontario and known as ‘Canadian Jim’ in his neighbourhood, said it was like a ‘whirlwind’ meeting her and that he ‘could barely remember our first words spoken’.

Speaking from her home hours after the memorable occasion, she said: “Kate was very kind and talked about her children and what they were learning from her, which she said she had learned part of from me.”

When the popular royal found out she had moved to Cornwall, Kate exclaimed enthusiastically, “No way!”

Reminiscing about her school days, she went on to say how she could visualize exactly what her teacher’s classroom looked like.

As the couple happily chatted, Prince William continued to speak to viewers.

Mr Embury reiterated to MailOnline: “She is a lovely, thoughtful and wonderful woman” and said photos of them together were “happy” for him and his wife to see later.

He said: “She was a fantastic student and it was really nice to see her again.”

He revealed that although he did not follow the royal family, he often watched what they were up to on news websites.

He declined to speculate on what kind of future Queen Kate would make.

During their visit to the museum workshop, the Prince and Princess of Wales assisted those working on the renovation of the Kiwi, a 14-foot sailing dinghy that was presented to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as a wedding gift from the Royal New Zealand Navy. .

Mr Embury refused to discuss whether he had been among the staff and volunteers showing off the royals, saying: “I volunteer on Fridays!”