Before she became the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton was a cockney. Footage of her performing as Eliza Doolittle in a school play when she was 11 has surfaced online, and it shows how natural she was in the spotlight even before she became Prince William’s wife.

The grainy video, obtained by the Daily Mail, was shot in 1993 during Kate’s St Andrew’s School days. Kate starred in the school production as Eliza Doolittle, a flower girl who took speech lessons so that she could pass as a well-born lady.

One scene shows Kate reciting the play’s famous line, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain,” with a cockney accent, much to the amusement of the audience.

If the boy playing Freddy Eynsford-Hill looks familiar, it’s because that’s Andrew Alexander, who turned out to become a professional actor in the future. “Downton Abbey” fans would recognise him as Sir John Bullock, who appeared in the fourth season of the UK series.

According to The Sun, Andrew was Kate’s first schoolgirl crush. The two starred in a few more school productions together during their time in the prep school.

“Kate was very shy around him because she had a huge crush on him for years,” a source said.

“My Fair Lady” was adapted into a film in 1964 starring Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Rex Harrison, who played Professor Henry Higgins.

YouTube/Flynet Pictures

Modified March 6, 2018, to update the embedded video of the Duchess of Cambridge's school play performance.