On Tuesday, Kensington Palace finally announced the choice for Prince George’s secondary school (the equivalent of high school). George will attend Eton starting in September, and he will board full time and likely spend his weekends at Forest Lodge or Anmer Hall. For years, the Princess of Wales has fought this. Some of you theorized that it was all some kind of scheme and Kate is actually happy that George will go to Eton. Nope. It was clear as early as 2023 that Kate was fighting tooth and nail to keep her eldest child from going to a same-sex boarding school. She has pushed and pushed for all of her kids to attend her alma mater, the coed Marlborough. Late last year and early this year, her side repeatedly briefed the media to make it sound like Marlborough was fait accompli, that Kate had gotten her way and George wouldn’t go to Eton. Even as recent as March of this year, Kate was still taking “tours” of Marlborough to push that agenda loudly. She lost. As it turns out, everyone knew that George would go to Eton as early as January.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have just announced that their eldest son Prince George will attend Eton in the autumn. A short statement read: “Kensington Palace can confirm that Prince George will attend Eton College from this September.”
The long-awaited news comes just before their three children are due to break up for the summer. But the Daily Express can exclusively reveal that the royal parents had made the decision six months earlier, in January.
A royal insider said: “Prince George is really looking forward to going to Eton. They settled the decision in January but mum and dad wanted to wait a little longer before it was officially announced.” William and Catherine are keen to safeguard their children’s privacy despite their public roles.
But the insider said it wasn’t an easy decision to make, as the Wales family had also been considering Marlborough College, the Wiltshire co-educational boarding school where Catherine excelled.
It was a two-horse race between William and Catherine’s alma mater, with the future Queen keen for the children to study alongside one another, just as she did with her sister Pippa and brother James at Marlborough. But Eton’s close proximity to the family home in Windsor appears to have been the deciding factor.
“The decision wasn’t just about George, they had to factor in Charlotte and Louis as well,” the source said. “But ultimately they wanted him to stay near the family.”
They added: “William is thrilled that his son wanted to follow in his footsteps. He’s incredibly proud.”
“They settled the decision in January…” More like Prince William and George settled it in January and Kate was still trying in vain to change their minds with all of these frantic briefings about Marlborough. Given that William recently revealed that George has already been boarding at Lambrook, I wonder if we’re actually missing a secret angle here. I’ve started developing a theory that William actually has somewhat strong opinions about how the kids are being raised as well, and that he’s actually trying to get George away from the Middleton influence. I also think George probably wants to board and get away from home more often (especially if he sees his peers doing the same thing) and William has taken his side.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
