The next stage of the future King’s education has begun as Prince George started his first day at Eton College.
The 13-year-old arrived at the renowned public school on Tuesday alongside his mother Princess Catherine and father Prince William – a former Eton student.
The royals were greeted by Eton’s headmaster Simon Henderson and the provost Sir Nicholas Coleridge.
Mr Henderson told the future king: “Welcome, good luck, enjoy it.”
They then walked through a doorway into one of the oldest parts of Eton, and Kate was seen placing her hand on her son’s back.
Beyond academic learning and sporting activities, Eton has a reputation for instilling self-reliance and leadership as students have to fulfil many non-academic tasks themselves.
Admission is rigorous, with the boys going through stringent tests and parents pay an annual fee of £63,298.
William was an Eton pupil for five years beginning in 1995 and served as a house captain and prefect before leaving to study at St Andrews University, while Harry joined three years after his brother.
Eton’s roll call of famous past students includes actors Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Eddie Redmayne, a large number of prime ministers including Lord David Cameron, writers George Orwell and Ian Fleming, and adventurer Bear Grylls.
George turned 13 in July and has spent part of the summer in Scotland with his family enjoying a break from studies after leaving Lambrook School, a private prep school in Berkshire he attended with siblings Princess Charlotte, 11, and eight-year-old Prince Louis.
The young prince arrived at Eton wearing dark trousers, a jacket, shirt and tie.
He is expected to change into “school dress”, a uniform standardised in the 1960s of a black tailcoat, waistcoat and pinstriped trousers, with a stiff white collar.
Other new intakes arrived later in the morning after the prince and his parents, and some brought their possessions in traditional boarding school trunks.
William and Harry were allowed to complete their time at Eton without media intrusion and William and Kate will be hoping George receives the same courtesy.
Speculation over George’s future academic path intensified in 2023 when William and Kate were reportedly seen taking their eldest son on a tour of the Eton campus.
Some royal observers predicted he would choose Marlborough College, the institution attended by his mother, Princess Catherine.
His father’s arrival at the institution on 6 September 1995 was a public affair, with photographers capturing William signing in alongside his brother Harry and parents Charles and Diana, the then Prince and Princess of Wales.
William’s attendance at Eton was a significant break in royal tradition at the time, as it was expected he would go to Gordonstoun in Scotland, which his father Charles and grandfather Philip both attended.
