Kate hugs old prep school teachers after spotting them in crowd

The Duchess of Cambridge was stunned to meet two of her prep school teachers during a visit to Wales.

Kate hugged Denise Evans-Alford and Kevin Alford after spotting them outside Joe’s Ice Cream Parlour in the Mumbles.

She said: “It’s such a small world,” before reminiscing about her days at St Andrew’s prep school in Pangbourne, Berkshire.

The teachers had not seen the duchess since she was 14, when she visited her brother James at the school with her sister Pippa.

Kate told them: “I want to instil in my children the life I had at St Andrew’s.”

The couple drove from their home in Carmarthen to try to say hello to Kate, who was visiting the ice cream parlour with her husband William.

They passed a note explaining who they were to a police officer, and were delighted when Kate came out to meet them.

“It was wonderful she gave us so much time,” Mr Alford, who taught French and German, said.

“She said it’s such a small world, and she hadn’t expected to see her ex-teachers in Swansea.

“We saw her last when she and Pippa came back to school to visit James, she was 14. We haven’t seen her since then.

“Obviously we’ve been following her career. She was in a wonderful class of girls and they got on so well together.”

Mr Alford said he enjoyed teaching Kate and the other pupils in her class so much that he asked to do so for an extra year.

Both teachers said how much Kate had liked her time at the prep school.

“She loved it so much,” said Mrs Evans-Alford, who taught PE. “We had such a fantastic time there. She was in my netball team and rounders team.

“She was wonderful. She hasn’t changed a bit at all, you can tell. Pippa and James were wonderful too.”

After leaving St Andrew’s, Kate studied at Downe House and Marlborough College.