Prince William and Kate Middleton braved driving rain Tuesday to deliver their eldest son to boarding school.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, both 44, walked Prince George, 13, through the gates of Eton College in Berkshire, England, the same prestigious institution William entered exactly 31 years prior. George, who now stands as tall as his mother, arrived not yet in his official uniform but dressed in a black suit with a blue tie that mirrored his father’s outfit.
Kate cut an elegant figure in a forest green Emilia Wickstead dress, sleek curls, and black pumps, shielding herself with a black umbrella. William carried a closed umbrella at his side, wearing brown shoes with his dark suit. The trio laughed and chatted together, smiling toward cameras before meeting school officials at the entrance.
Simon Henderson, the headmaster, and Sir Nicholas Coleridge, the provost of Eton and chair of the governing body, greeted the royal family with enthusiastic handshakes. “Welcome,” Henderson told George, per People. “Good luck. Enjoy it.”
The milestone marks a deliberate continuation of royal tradition. William attended Eton from 1995 to 2000, arriving for his own first day at age 13 alongside his separated parents, Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles. His younger brother, Prince Harry, followed from 1998 to 2003.
The couple confirmed George’s enrollment on June 16 through a Kensington Palace spokesperson, ending speculation about whether he would follow his father’s path. At the time, George was still attending Lambrook School in Berkshire near Ascot alongside his younger siblings, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8, neither of whom accompanied the family Tuesday.
Founded in 1440, Eton stands as England’s largest boarding school and maintains its all-boys tradition. The institution’s historic architecture and rigorous program have educated generations of British elite, including now-Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s predecessors and countless members of the aristocracy.
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield said that George faces a challenge his father never encountered. “William and [his brother] Harry attended before social media transformed adolescence. George won’t have that luxury,” she said.
“George’s biggest challenge won’t be academics or making friends,” Schofield continued, “but balancing [his] privacy with the reality that every classmate has TikTok.”
Schofield added that the young prince’s protection will “almost certainly be more sophisticated, even if it’s designed to remain largely invisible.” The commentator also noted that George is expected to have his own room, as “Eton students don’t typically have roommates,” though he will still be “immersed in a social environment” through shared kitchens, common rooms, and meals.
Athletics will likely feature prominently in George’s routine. “Everything we’ve seen suggests he’s inherited his mother and father’s competitive streak, and Eton has always viewed athletics as an important part of school life,” Schofield observed.
The visual parallels between father and son did not go unnoticed. Side-by-side comparisons circulated showing William’s own nervous arrival in 1994, Diana’s hand on his shoulder, against George’s more assured stride Tuesday. The prince who once needed parental reassurance now offered it himself, a black umbrella instead of Diana’s protective presence.
Eton’s fees, among the highest in British education, currently exceed £50,000 annually. The school’s output includes twenty British prime ministers, numerous foreign heads of state, and generations of cultural figures from George Orwell to Tom Hiddleston. Its distinctive tailcoat uniform, which George will soon wear, remains one of Britain’s most recognizable school outfits.
For the Wales family, the drop-off represented another public milestone in a year of gradual return to fuller duties following Kate’s cancer treatment. Their coordinated presence, the matching suits, the careful choreography of arrival—all spoke to the managed visibility that now defines their public life.
George’s enrollment cements Eton’s place as a generational thread in the House of Windsor’s modern history. The school that shaped William’s adolescence, that witnessed his parents’ final public appearances together, now takes his eldest son at the identical age, under skies just as gray.
The young prince will settle into boarding life as his parents return to royal duties, with William scheduled to continue engagements across the United Kingdom.