There was a constant stream of stories in 2022-23 about the Princess of Wales not wanting Prince George to attend Eton, the elite prep school. Kate has been visiting other boarding schools for a while, and reportedly she’s not even sold on sending George to a boarding school at all. She would prefer to have all of her kids at home for as long as possible. Reportedly, before her abdominal surgery in January, she even went to see another school for George. She has really been doing the most to show that Eton is not a sure thing. This is not an urgent problem really – it would be another two school years before George would potentially go to Eton anyway. But someone wants to keep this as a topic of conversation.

Unlike many 11-year-olds around the country, Prince George won’t be going to secondary school in September. The young royal will instead continue his education at Lambrook School, where he currently attends alongside Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six. The Berkshire-based prep school educates children up to the age of 13 (Year 8), meaning George will have two years before he moves on to his next school.

While the palace hasn’t confirmed his next place of education, Editor-in-Chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward claims there is a “very likely” next school for Prince George. Speaking to Fabulous, she claimed: “They [William and Kate] will have their choice of schools, and they can look at as many as they like, and they don’t actually have to make a choice nearly as early as anyone else would. So they have that advantage. They’ve looked at Eton. She [Kate] probably doesn’t want him to go to boarding school at all, and it’s possible that he won’t. But I mean, that’s what makes Eton look very likely, because it is so near to where they’re living.”

Ingrid claimed there is a key reason why Eton would be an advantage for William and Kate. She explained: “Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte will still be at their current school, and when and if George gets into Eton, which of course he will, he will just be down the road from them. Now, all this makes an enormous difference because the royals are now under such scrutiny as to how much they cost the taxpayer. The security, which is very expensive and we pay for, for these members of the Royal Family when they’re at school, is why Charlotte, Louis, and George are all at the same school at the moment. If George went to Eton, it would be quite possible to use the same string of security to look after him.”

[From The Sun]

The longer this goes on and the more of a “debate” it becomes, the more I’m convinced that this is actually something William and Kate are fighting about. I’ve long said that Kate got “her way” on the kids’ early education. I believe that the compromise was: the kids can stay at home until they’re 13, then the Windsor program commences, at least for the heir. This is all about George too – Kate will get her way on Charlotte and Louis’s education, I have no doubt. But George “belongs” to the institution and they want him to go to Eton. Kate is fighting with them about that, and they’re trying to publicly show her that she doesn’t have a choice.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, Kensington Palace.