After months of widespread public speculation over where the 12-year-old second-in-line to the British throne would continue his secondary education, Kensington Palace officially announced Tuesday that Prince George will enroll at Eton College when the new academic term begins this coming September.
For weeks, royal watchers and education analysts had debated the prospective choice, with many pundits floating Marlborough College — the boarding school that Prince George’s mother, Princess Catherine, attended during her youth — as the likely favorite. But the palace put all conjecture to rest with a brief, clear confirmation: “Kensington Palace can confirm that Prince George will attend Eton College from this September.”
Founded all the way back in 1440 by King Henry VI, Eton College is one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious all-boys boarding schools, with a centuries-long reputation for grooming the nation’s future leaders. Its alumni roll includes multiple former British prime ministers, ranging from Britain’s first prime minister Robert Walpole to 21st-century officeholders David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
The choice of Eton also places Prince George in a long line of close royal family members who attended the institution. His father, Prince William, heir to the British throne, studied at Eton, as did George’s uncle Prince Harry and his great-uncle, Earl Charles Spencer. Even today, the school retains many of its historic traditions, including requiring all students to wear its iconic formal uniform: tailored tailcoats, stiff white collars, and pinstriped trousers.
At present, Prince George is a student at Lambrook, a private preparatory school located in Berkshire. The school, which sits close to the royal family’s Windsor residence west of London, also counts George’s two younger siblings — 11-year-old Princess Charlotte and 8-year-old Prince Louis — among its current students.