Prince George Prince William Eton now points to a very different school start this September, with Kensington Palace saying George will attend Eton College. Royal author Robert Jobson said the experience will differ from Prince William’s because George comes from a settled home.
Jobson told the Mail, “The difference is everything,” and added, “William walked into Eton carrying his parents’ marital war. George walks in from a settled home. Two parents, together, who built him a base and guard it fiercely. Confidence is not taught. It is absorbed.” George is also described as being interested in history and in football and hockey.
Windsor Castle and Eton
Melanie Sanderson of The Good Schools' Guide said you can see Eton College from Windsor Castle, which means George’s schooldays will keep him close to home. She said boys are allowed a little bit of freedom to pop in and out of school at the weekends, to come home for Sunday lunch or tea on a Saturday evening after their sports fixtures.
That practical proximity matters because Robert Jobson said Eton will be a challenge, but being close to home, in the shadow of Windsor Castle, will help. He added that the environment will protect him like it did his father, and that time at school should give George space to settle in.
Prince William at Eton
Jobson also set out how William’s start differed. He wrote, “A boy of thirteen came out with his mother and father to pose for pictures with his housemaster, Dr Andrew Gailey. He had signed the Entrance Book. Charles and Diana stood either side of him. They were separated by then. The divorce was a year away.”
He went on: “Nobody standing there that morning knew what Gailey, a quiet Ulsterman, a historian, would become to that boy. A rock. Two years after that photocall, Diana was dead, and it was Gailey who took William under his wing, educationally and emotionally, and steadied him. The school became his sanctuary.”
George's Eton subjects
Eton’s website says George will have 28 subjects to get stuck into, including nine Modern and Classical Languages. The list includes English literature, mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics, along with Ancient History, Latin, Greek, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin and Arabic.
Other subjects on offer include History, History of Art, Geography, Design, Art, Music, Theology, Theatre Studies, Economics, Government and Politics, Music Technology and Computer Science. Eton’s website says sending a student to university without a love of learning leaves them woefully underprepared, and that boys should enjoy their studies, thrive and have fun rather than leave feeling burnt out and disengaged.
For George, the immediate change is simple: school begins this September, and the daily rhythm will be shaped by a close commute, weekend flexibility and the same institution that shaped his father. The main open question is how his own time there will feel once he steps out in his tailcoat and false collar.
