A palace it ain't: In the shadow of a high-rise block the childhood home of Kate Middleton in Jordan
It was a far from palatial place for a future princess to live.
In the shadow of a high-rise block, this is the villa where Kate Middleton spent her formative childhood years.
The shabby one-storey building was home for more than two years from May 1984, when her father Mike got a job as a British Airways manager and moved his family from Berkshire to the Jordanian capital Amman.
Revealed: The Mail has tracked down the modest three-bedroom house which the Middletons lived in Amman, Jordan, from May 1984 to Sept 1986
Amman: Jordan's capital Amman city which is made of seven hills, was known as Philadelphia during the rule of the Roman Empire
The Middletons' years in the Middle East remained secret until last month, when Kate's official biography was released by St James's Palace.
A picture of her and sister Pippa – both tanned and fair-haired thanks to the sun – showed them exploring ancient Greco-Roman ruins with their father during a day trip to Jerash, near the border with Syria.
Now the Mail has tracked down the modest three-bedroom house which Mr Middleton, then 33, and his wife Carole, 29, rented for £300 a month with two-year-old Kate and Pippa, eight months.
The building, in the Um Uthainah area of Amman, has now been turned into a medical centre for sick children.
Family snap: Kate, aged four, with her father Mike and sister Pippa, right, in Jerash, Jordan
But Mickey Mouse stickers remain stuck to one wardrobe door after being left there by Kate, according to the landlords who still live next door.
The toddler would play among exotic trees in the concrete-walled back garden, where a rusty metal swinging seat now sits. Her brother James was not yet born.
Mrs Middleton, who had quit work as a BA air hostess to start a family, would prepare meals in the simple kitchen for her husband's colleagues, before eating al fresco on the veranda.
When Kate turned three, she started spending mornings at the nearby Al-Sahera nursery and learned to recite rhymes in Arabic.
A source close to the family told the Mail: 'Jordan was a very happy time for them all.'
But Mr Middleton would often have to wave goodbye to his wife and little girls when they flew back to the UK, where they still owned a red-brick semi in Bradfield Southend, Berkshire.
His shift pattern meant he was once forced to spend the Christmas period alone in the 96 per cent Muslim country.
Nicola Nijmeh, 74, who owns the building with his wife Intisar, told the Mail: 'Mike had sent his family home for Christmas and his hot water boiler broke. So he knocked on my door in shorts and slippers to tell me what happened.
'I told him to take a shower in my house and turned on the hot water. He got his clothes, took his shower and went out for New Year's. I stayed till morning working on the boiler.'
Mr Nijmeh's son Marius, a paediatrician who now runs the clinic in the Middletons' former home, added: 'I remember he always wore white shorts and he had a white Toyota four-wheel-drive with BA written on it.'
Mr Middleton worked long shifts at Amman Airport, where he was in charge of BA's flights to and from London. To relax, he played tennis at the British Embassy near his home.
The Mickey Mouse stickers are still on the wardrobe door: Kate Middleton - pictured with Prince William - has left her mark on her childhood home in Amman
Described by colleagues as a hard-working and quietly generous man, he once used his high-ranking post to upgrade his landlord's family to first class when they flew to visit their son at Cambridge University.
Hana Hashweh, a Jordanian BA agent who worked alongside Mr Middleton, said: 'He was very active, extremely straightforward and a man of integrity.'
No comments:
Post a Comment