Prince George began his Prince George first day at Eton on a rainy morning, arriving with Prince William and Catherine for his first day at Eton College. Simon Henderson met the 13-year-old and said, “Welcome, good luck and enjoy.”
Prince George wore a jacket and tie on arrival, then was later photographed in the school uniform with a black tailcoat, waistcoat and stiff white collar. He will be a boarder at Eton College, a move that places him in one of the school’s 25 boarding houses, each of which houses about 55 pupils starting from the age of 13.
Eton College and Prince William
The journey from Forest Lodge in Windsor to Eton College was short, but the choice was not made in a vacuum. Prince George has finished at Lambrook in Berkshire, and Eton now becomes the setting for a residential school routine that begins at 13.
Prince William already knows that routine. In June 2000, he said, “I've really enjoyed being able to go about Eton as just another student”. Melanie Sanderson of the Good Schools Guide said that “despite its ancient buildings, it is a modern school with a progressive outlook”.
Simon Henderson at Eton College
Sir Nicholas Coleridge also welcomed Prince George at Eton College as the school opened the door to a pupil with close family ties there. Eton has taught 20 British prime ministers, charges around £65,000 a year, and counts Prince William, Prince Harry and Earl Spencer among those who attended.
Melanie Sanderson said that Prince George's parents had decided that an Eton education represents the best preparation for life as a modern working royal. For Prince George, the immediate change is simpler: a new school, a boarding house, and a daily life now shaped by the rules of Eton College.
Forest Lodge in Windsor
Prince George travelled from Forest Lodge in Windsor before starting the day, and the first image of him at school was a rainy arrival with his parents at his side. How he settles into boarding is the next step, and it begins inside Eton’s residential system rather than at home.
