Prince George is set to start at Eton College next week, stepping into one of the most closely watched school transitions in the royal family after recently turning 13. The move will put him in the same institution where Prince William studied when he was growing up.
The timing is what has brought renewed attention to Kate Middleton Prince William Prince Harry, with the school year reset now under way and the young prince about to begin a new routine. Eton stands close to Windsor Castle, while the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family live in Great Windsor Park, which keeps the journey home manageable even as the school day changes.
What George will wear is part of the interest. Eton’s uniform echoes a traditional morning suit, with a long blazer that has tails, a waistcoat worn over a white shirt or tunic, and pinstriped trousers. The school also uses variations in the uniform to show different responsibilities, a detail that links George’s new life there to the hierarchy William once knew; William wore a different coloured waistcoat for prefects.
That sense of a clean break is softened by what came before. George’s previous school offered boarding, and he has sometimes boarded already, so this is not his first taste of living away from the family home. William said earlier this year that George had boarded the night before and would already be at school on one morning, while Louis and Charlotte were still on route, adding a glimpse of the family’s school-run routine.
It is a routine that the Prince and Princess of Wales have tried to keep hands-on. William has said they drive their children to school themselves and joked about the car load, saying there are often jam sandwiches taken in the car and that Louis will leave jam fingerprints throughout it. On George’s first day of school, William took him by the hand to meet the head, and in 2022 the couple were photographed walking all three children to the gates of Lambrook School.
George’s next step is therefore both ordinary and symbolic: a new school, a familiar family rhythm, and a version of boarding that should feel less abrupt than it might for other 13-year-olds. What remains unknown is how often he will stay at Eton once term begins, and that is the detail that will show whether this move is mainly a school change or the start of a fuller separation from home.
