Carole Middleton was reportedly “in tears” after her husband Michael described their son James’s £32,000-a-year education as a “waste of money,” according to a new autobiography.
James, the younger brother of Princess Kate, admitted he had to retake his Chemistry A-Level four times.
The father-of-one, who now resides in Berkshire, attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire as a boarder, where his older sisters Kate and Pippa excelled academically.
At 18, James was forced to take a gap year to retake his Chemistry A-Level multiple times, calling it a “humiliating record” for Marlborough College.
“Dad says my expensive education has been ‘a waste of money’.
“After a year of resitting my A-levels, I scrape into Edinburgh University with the minimum permitted grades.”
However, James has now told The Times: “Mum and Dad just wanted the best for me.”
The outlet wrote: “Today Middleton studiously avoids criticising his school or his beloved parents — he learnt valuable survival skills at Marlborough, he tells me.”
James wrote in his memoir about seeking an escape in nature and in dogs.
He said: “I was an outcast … alienated from my classmates. But dogs never judged me.
“Mum asked repeatedly if I wanted to bring friends home to stay at weekends. But truthfully all I wanted to do was to see Tilly.”
Tilly was the family’s golden retriever, but from an early age, James was desperate for his own dog.
Carole and Michael, however, were desperate for their son to succeed.
The father-of-one went on to Edinburgh University, choosing criminology, environmental studies and geography modules because he was @pretty certain they would all be multiple choice”.
Unfortunately, he failed his first-year exams.
The Times continued to report: “More crying from Mum, more exasperation from Dad, more solace from a dog, this time his own.”
