Prince George to attend Eton College
Prince George is to attend Eton College, it has been confirmed.
Prince George is to attend Eton College.
The eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales - who turns 13 next month - will follow in the footsteps of his dad Prince William and uncle Prince Harry by attending the prestigious all-boys boarding school from the start of the next academic year, Kensington Palace have announced.
A royal spokesperson said: “Kensington Palace can confirm that Prince George will attend Eton College from this September.”
The school - which costs around £63,000 per year - is close to the family home in Windsor, but is full boarding, though there is flexibility for pupils to go home at weekends.
Like William and Harry, George will board at Manor House, where it is expected rooms will be provided for his protection officers, as was the case for the older princes and their security teams.
George's younger siblings, Princess Charlotte, 10, and eight-year-old Prince Louis, will remain at Lambrook.
William's own attendance at Eton broke with royal tradition because his father, King Charles, grandfather Prince Philip and uncles Prince Edward and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor all attended Gordonstoun in Scotland.
He previously spoke of how he used to visit his grandparents at Windsor Castle in his spare time, and enjoyed "the best teas" with his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth.
He said in a recent documentary: "In a recent television documentary, he said of Elizabeth II: “She had the best teas ever. I used to get well fed.
“I’d come around to have a chat with her and see how she was and just sort of check in and see how she was doing.”
Meanwhile, Harry - who is estranged from his father and brother - described Eton in his memoir Spare as both the “finest school in the world” and a “profound shock”.
He added: "It could only be purgatory for one very unbrilliant boy”.
William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, were said to have considered other schools for George, and at one point, it was reported they were keen to send him to Marlborough College in Wiltshire, a prestigious co-ed boarding school attended by the princess between the ages of 14 and 18.
A source told Vanity Fair in January: “While Eton would be the obvious choice because it is on their doorstep and where William went, they are leaning towards other schools. I’m hearing Marlborough is the front-runner.
“I genuinely don’t think they’ve one hundred per cent decided, but there is talk among the Marlborough set that they’ve allocated a house for George and that security has been a big issue."
There is no official word from the royals at this time.
It's not the first time it's been claimed that Catherine was keen for George to attend Marlborough.
A friend of Catherine said it was high up on her list of secondary education establishments to send her boy.
They told the Daily Mail: "Eton hasn’t been ruled out but they have talked at length about Marlborough as an option and the smart money is on George going there instead.
"William and Catherine surprised many with their choice of Thomas's Battersea for George over more traditional royal schools but picked it because they felt it was the right fit for him.
"They are very keen to allow George to spread his wings as a child and won’t ever do what people expect them to do when it comes to their children."
George, started school in 2017, and settled in "really easy".
Speaking about his son's first few days at school to patients at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool, William said at the time: "It's been an interesting week.
"George has been really easy. He hasn't said, 'Have I got to do this for the rest of my life?'"
