Kate Middleton was a 'terrible' waitress before she was royal

Before the Princess of Wales was royal, she was your everyday young woman who grew up out of the spotlight, went to university and even worked as a waitress.

Like most hard up university students, Catherine got a job during her studies at the University of St Andrews. The future Queen worked as a part-time waitress and previously joked about being rather bad at it with Dame Mary Berry. 

Despite having met Prince William when they both started as students in Scotland in 2001 (as played out in The Crown) their romance didn't begin to flourish until months down the line - and Kate didn't officially become royal until years later on their wedding day in 2011. 

Appearing on the BBC's A Berry Royal Christmas back in 2019, Kate reminisced on her uni days and her not-so-great waitressing experience. 

After shaking up a batch of cranberry mocktails and placing them on a tray, Kate declared, "Reminds me of my university days when I did a bit of waitressing."

Mary swiftly asked, "Were you good?" to which the Princess of Wales laughed, "No, I was terrible."

Catherine and Mary's on-screen moments also revealed more about Kate and William's university life together. 

When Mary asked if the future King, who is first in the line of succession, is much of an at-home chef, Kate replied, "He sometimes does [cook] actually. He’s very good at breakfast.

"In university days he used to cook all sorts of meals. I think that was when he was trying to impress me, Mary. Things like bolognese sauce and things like that."

Along with having waitressing on her CV, Kate went on to work in fashion after graduating from university with her degree in Art History. 

She secured a part-time job at Jigsaw as an accessories buyer, however it's believed that she had to eventually give it up due to growing attention from the press and photographers due to her relationship with William. 

It's also been claimed that she requested for the role to be part-time in order for the job to work around her life in the royal spotlight. 

Speaking in documentary William & Kate: Too Good To Be True?, royal journalist Rebecca English said, "Kate did get a job. She worked as an accessories buyer but interestingly, someone at the firm told me at the time she went to the boss and said to them, 'I need a job, but it needs to be part-time so I can work it around my relationship with this very high profile man.'."