I might have to eat my words. For years, there’s been royal drama about the Princess of Wales’ indecision about where to send her children to high school/prep school. For the Windsors, the choice should have been obvious, at least for where to send Prince George and Prince Louis. Of course they would go to Eton, one of the most “elite” all-boy schools in the world. Eton is where Prince William and Harry went, and it’s where King Charles wanted to go. Kate has waged a public battle for years to send the kids to a co-ed facility, and I don’t think she wants them to leave home and go to a full-time boarding school. I always thought Kate was fighting a losing battle when it came to George, that William would get his way, and the establishment would get their way and George would go to Eton. But according to a Daily Mail exclusive, Kate won and George will go to her alma mater, Marlborough.
The Princess of Wales’s former school Marlborough College has been chosen for all three of her children, according to insiders. After months of speculation, they claim the choice is so likely that the discussion has even turned to where Prince George, 11, who would be the first of the trio to attend, will be housed.
A source at the £59,000-a-year Wiltshire school told The Mail on Sunday there had been a focus on which of the school houses on the 286-acre site could be assigned to Prince George. Marlborough has six all-boys’ houses, six all-girls’ houses and four mixed houses, many dotted around the campus at the school or in the nearby fashionable market town of Marlborough. Sources say that C1 House, an all-boys’ house for 59 pupils at the heart of the school in what is known as the College Court, has been earmarked for Prince George for security reasons.
The well-placed insider said: ‘Parents have been talking about nothing else and discussions have really ramped up in recent weeks but security is obviously a massive consideration. Prince George will have to be housed in an “in house” – these are the houses that are around the main quad of the school. The “out houses” are scattered down the Bath Road, and these present more of a security risk as they are just big houses on their own and involve a lot more walking around which is the downside of Marlborough.’
C1 House has a royal history. It was once the home of the Seymour family, who moved on to nearby Wolf Hall, the inspiration for Hilary Mantel’s books. Lady Jane Seymour was the third wife of King Henry VIII. The school’s alumni include poets Siegfried Sassoon and John Betjeman and more recently comedian Jack Whitehall and Princess Eugenie.
The allure of Marlborough, for Kate, is that it’s close to Middleton Manor in Bucklebury. I remember reading some snide commentary, years ago, about how Kate went home often when she was in school and Carole was still very hands-on with Kate even when she was in school. Kate wants the same thing with her kids, and I’m surprised that she would even agree to ANY boarding school. There are other allures for Kate too – she would be able to send all three kids to the same school, which is very important to her. Kate is very anti-same-sex education and I think she worries about sending either son to an all-boys school. So did Kate win and how? I wonder.
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