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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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Prince George will follow in his father Prince William's footsteps by attending Eton College, Kensington Palace has announced, triggering debate over whether the heir to the throne should have been educated outside Britain’s elite private school system**.**
The future king is about to finish at Lambrook School in the English county of Berkshire, meaning a new stage in his education is imminent, and for years rumors have been circulating in the British press about where he might go next.
"Kensington Palace can confirm that Prince George will attend Eton College from this September," a statement sent to Newsweek said on Wednesday.
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Why It Matters
Following the announcement, some suggested sending George to an $85,000-a-year boarding school could be jarring to observers more familiar with the Waleses' image as a modern, relatable family.
Allegations of privilege have dogged prominent politicians educated at Eton in recent years, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A former Eton school master said in a 2023 letter to The Times that the "privilege, entitlement and omniscience" among Johnson and other Conservative Party politicians could "damage a country’s very fabric.”
Reactions to Prince George's School Announcement
One user who frequently posts in support of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wrote on X: "With how isolated and out of touch that family is, this would make him even more isolated in a super rich world.
"William and Kate should have been taking the kids out on the real world, especially the older ones. This doesn't make them look good. It just reinforces the image of the super rich family who doesn't try to understand what's happening in the real world."
The criticism is notable because Prince William has sought to project a more relatable image—taking George to soccer matches, appearing on sports podcasts and even being photographed pulling pints in pubs.
William has also talked about wanting to modernize the monarchy, or in his words "doing it with maybe a smaller 'r' in the royal."
Royal biographer Ingrid Seward, author of My Mother and I, told Newsweek: "I can see the problem because it is viewed as elitist. It does slightly dent William's image as being the sort of every man prince because it is elitist.
"There's a very small percentage of England that can afford to send their sons there."
Prince Harry, who also attended Eton, described the school’s distinctive culture in his memoir, Spare.
"Classes were no longer classes: they were divs," he wrote. "Teachers were no longer teachers: they were beaks.
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"Cigarettes were tabbage. (Seemingly everyone had a raging tabbage habit.) Chambers was the mid-morning meeting of the beaks, when they discussed the students, especially the problem students. I often felt my ears burning during Chambers."
And the debate extended beyond social media to Times Radio where Tessa Dunlop, a prominent historian and author of royal book Elizabeth & Philip, said sending George to a state-funded school, known as comprehensive schools in Britain, was "never going to happen."
"From a royal family perspective where we do have in line to the throne one white, middle-aged posh, Protestant male, following up behind him now a white, posh, Protestant male, who also went to Eton... it all feels very samey," she said. "We got rather used to Elizabeth II being, 'hey, what? A woman.'"
The Advantages of Eton
That said, not everyone viewed the choice as problematic. Royal biographer Robert Jobson, author of The Windsor Legacy, told Newsweek: "It's probably the least well-kept secret on royal stories. That said, I think it's understandable. He's close to home. He has been doing boarding at Lambrook, so he'll be able to mix with his peers.
"It's great for the royals because they can see him playing rugby, or whatever, it's all very close by. It also benefited William when he was at Eton because he could go and have tea with the queen [Elizabeth II] who was very close by. George will be able to do that with the king."
There are also some particular issues unique to a future king, including security and privacy. Princess Kate visited two London schools, University College School (UCS), in Hampstead, and Highgate School but both used off-site playing fields, requiring pupils to walk through residential streets.
One pro-Wales account on X wrote: "EVEN the children of politicians and middleclass families attend elite private schools; yet somehow some people thought the Heir to the British throne, who requires a very formal education as well as special accomodations due to high security measures, was going to be educated in a regular state school? How is that even a realistic and reasonable expectation?"
Needless to say, Prince William told the BBC in 2016 that he and Princess Kate were raising their children as a "normal family," focusing on love and a supportive home environment.
Boarding school would therefore represent a moment when they choose to trust a far greater portion of George's upbringing to an educational environment outside their control.
Existing Symbolism of Eton College
Eton has been a byword for privilege in British public debate for years, particularly during the premiership of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
John Claughton, an Eton master from 1984 to 2001, wrote in a letter to U.K. newspaper The Times in 2023: “Perhaps [Eton's] most important mission will be to ensure that its pupils are saved from the sense of privilege, entitlement and omniscience that can produce alumni such as Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kwasi Kwarteng and Ben Elliot [all Conservative Party politicians at the time] and thereby damage a country’s very fabric.”
“Sadly, I failed in that purpose,” he concluded.
British actor Danny Dyer also sparked headlines in 2020 when he told the BBC: "We must learn now that the people who went to Eton can’t run this country.
“They’ve done it, they’ve tried to do it and this little small group who all went to the same school in the same class... it doesn’t work."
Speculation Over George’s New School
Rumors that George might go to Eton grew after William revealed in May that the young prince has already begun boarding at his current school, Lambrook, a preparatory school in Berkshire, on certain days.
"George is boarding last night," William said during an appearance on the radio show Heart Breakfast. "So, Charlotte, Louis, if you're listening, make sure you're on time, please."
George, Charlotte and Louis joined Lambrook in 2022 when their parents moved from London to Windsor. Like most prep schools, Lambrook educates pupils up to age 13, meaning George's departure is now imminent.
Eton College—William’s alma mater—was always a frequently cited possible next step for George, so Tuesday's announcement is in line with the expectations of royal commentators.
A recent Daily Mail headline read: "Why Prince George IS going to all-boys Eton this autumn." Last summer, Tatler ran the headline "Prince George is apparently primed for Eton College."
At the same time, there has been some speculation that the Princess of Wales favored alternatives, including Marlborough College, where she studied.
Prior to Tuesday's announcement, commentators pointed to Kate’s own experience, having quit the all-girls school Downe House after being bullied and going on to be far happier at co-educational Marlborough.
Ingrid Seward previously told Newsweek: "Kate went to boarding school and she didn't like the first one but then really liked it when she was much older. She went to Downe House and she was bullied. Then she left for Marlborough College."
Both are boarding schools, so the Prince of Wales' recent comment to Heart Breakfast did not particularly point to one option over the other.
The Wales family will have a new decision to take in the years to come as Charlotte will not be able to go to Eton, which is for boys' only, so they will need to find a different school for her. That makes Eton a break from their policy so far, under which all three children went to Lambrook.
Prince William and Eton—the Future King’s "Sanctuary"
The decision over George’s next school inevitably returns to William’s own experience at Eton, widely regarded as formative in his development at a time when his parents, King Charles III and Princess Diana, were going through a messy divorce.
"Eton became a sanctuary for William as the so-called ‘War of the Waleses’ was fought bitterly, largely through leaks to the tabloid press," royal author Jobson wrote in his book William at 40.
"He found it all excruciating, particularly when he spotted fellow pupils reading papers with photos of his parents’ faces plastered across them."
Jobson describes Eton as the place where the young prince came into his own both academically and in sports. The palace also negotiated a deal with the media to preserve his privacy in exchange for organized photo ops and press calls.
"It meant William could relax knowing there wasn’t a camera around every corner," Jobson wrote. "Although some paparazzi breached this agreement and sold photos to foreign magazines, in the main, it worked.
"William was accomplished academically and excelled on the playing fields of Eton. He captained his house football team and took up water polo, too.
"Having proven to be the fastest junior swimmer at Eton in ten years, William also captained the swimming team, holding the title of Joint Keeper of Swimming."
Prince Harry’s account in his memoir Spare offers insight into the time he and William were at Eton: "Willy told me to pretend I didn’t know him. 'What?'
"'You don’t know me, Harold. And I don’t know you.' For the last two years, he explained, Eton had been his sanctuary. No kid brother tagging along, pestering him with questions, pushing up on his social circle. He was forging his own life, and he wasn’t willing to give that up."
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A New Phase of Life for George
The next phase of Prince George's education will see him through a major transition in his relationship with the British public and, indeed, fans around the world.
William was 15 when a visit to Canada alongside Charles and Prince Harry triggered huge crowds, including young women screaming his name. Some gave roses while one held a sign, adorned with hearts, that read: "William it's me you've been looking for."
Jobson wrote in his book The New Royal Family: "At first [Prince William] did his best to hide his discomfort at the extreme adoration with which he was met. But he hated every second of it, as we were soon to find out. William was just horrified at the heaving mass of adoration."
That was in February 1998, less than a year after the death of William's mother, Princess Diana, in an August 1997 Paris car crash.
George is currently less than three years away from that age and will remain at boarding school until the end of his education at 18, meaning Eton will see him through that transition.
William and Kate will have considered all the implications in their school choice, including how effectively an establishment can protect George's security and privacy.
After all, it is this school that will take him from being a child into being legally an adult, and in royal terms, that is a fundamental change in the lens through which the public and media view him. Unlike William, George will go through all this in the age of social media and, indeed, AI deep fakes. That may produce new challenges that test just how much of a sanctuary any school can be.
Update 6/17/26, 7:15 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a new headline and further information.
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