London: Prince George has begun his education at one of Britain’s most elite schools after arriving at Eton College on Tuesday to join other teenagers on their first day.
George, 13, was accompanied by his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, in a brief appearance for the media in the historic main yard of the school founded in 1440.
But the family’s concern for his privacy meant the prince did not make any appearance outside the school, while palace officials limited the media to a small group arranged to witness and record the milestone in his life.
Worried about privacy breaches around Eton College, the royal household has reminded the media that press regulations state that students who are visible from public locations must be afforded the same protection as if they were inside school buildings.
The prince’s family are seeking to ensure he can attend lessons, activities and other events in school life without being photographed or followed.
And it has made it clear that the country’s press rules mean these protections apply even if images of the prince are obtained from social media, rather than directly by press photographers.
On his first day at Eton, however, the palace arranged an appearance where the prince, smiling with his parents, could be photographed being welcomed to the college.
He was welcomed in the quadrangle by Simon Henderson, the headmaster, and Sir Nicholas Coleridge, the provost and chair of Eton’s governing body.
Henderson was heard by the media telling the prince: “Welcome, good luck, enjoy it.”
While George and other boys his age arrived on Tuesday for the start of Year 9, older students are due later in the week. Like others in his year, he will have his own room.
Prince William and Princess Catherine were shown around the school with their son after the welcome. Kate put her arm on her son’s back as they went into the school buildings.
William already knew the grounds, having been educated at Eton along with his brother, Harry, three decades ago. William’s first day was in September 1995.
Eton was founded by King Henry VI and is known for educating royalty and members of the British establishment, including the country’s first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and two of its most recent leaders, David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Winston Churchill went to Harrow School.
Eton also educated writers including Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ian Fleming, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, who was a scholarship student and came from a family too poor to pay the fees.
More recent students included actors Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne and Dominic West.
The registration fee for Eton is £480 ($900), the fee once a student is accepted is another £3840 ($7200) and the school fee for this year is £65,673 ($123,127).
While George followed in his father’s footsteps on Tuesday, a previous generation studied elsewhere. King Charles went to school at Hill House in London and Cheam School in Hampshire before going to Gordonstoun in Scotland.
Charles also spent a year at Geelong Grammar’s bush campus at Timbertop in 1966, a year he later described as “by far the best” part of his education.
George, who is second in line to the throne, arrived in civilian clothes and changed into the Eton uniform of a black tailcoat, waistcoat and pinstriped trousers, with a white collar. The school phased out top hats in 1948.
David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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