How William and Kate Have Chosen Schools for Prince George, Charlotte, and Louis

Prince William and Catherine spent years choosing coeducational schools that allowed Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis to share parts of the same routine. Then, in June 2026, Kensington Palace confirmed that George would leave that pattern and begin at Eton College in September.

At first, the decision can look like a return to royal custom. William attended Eton, as did Prince Harry. George will enter the same all boys boarding school at age 13, following a route closely associated with his father.

Yet the family’s full record shows something more practical. William and Catherine have rarely followed one fixed educational plan. Their choices have changed with the family’s home, the children’s ages, the need to keep siblings together, and the type of school that best fit each stage.

That pattern began before George entered a regular classroom.

George’s first school was chosen around the family’s Norfolk life

In December 2015, the Royal Household announced that George would attend Westacre Montessori School Nursery in Norfolk. He began in January 2016, when he was two.

The location mattered. William and Catherine were spending significant family time at Anmer Hall, their Norfolk home, and Westacre was close enough to fit that daily life. The choice gave George a local nursery experience rather than placing him in a London institution because of his royal position.

The Montessori connection also had a family precedent. William attended a Montessori nursery as a child. Still, proximity appears to have been the stronger practical factor. George’s first school matched where the family was living.

That same logic later shaped Charlotte’s and Louis’s nursery years.

After the family’s routine shifted toward Kensington Palace, Charlotte began at Willcocks Nursery School in London in January 2018. Louis followed her there in April 2021. Both children attended a nursery near the family’s main London base.

The nursery choices established a consistent rule. The school needed to work with the family’s real location and schedule.

Thomas’s Battersea showed that William’s path was not a template

George’s move to Thomas’s Battersea in September 2017 marked a larger decision.

William had attended Wetherby School at a similar age. Wetherby was an all boys school with a long connection to prominent families. George instead entered a coeducational day school several miles from Kensington Palace.

The couple said they believed Thomas’s would give George a happy and successful start. The school offered a broad program that included music, drama, art, languages, physical education, and other specialist subjects. Its best known rule was direct and simple: “Be Kind.”

The choice mattered because it showed that William and Catherine would not repeat William’s education automatically. They selected a school whose values and structure suited George’s circumstances, even when another familiar royal route was available.

The distance also adds useful context. Thomas’s was not the closest possible school to Kensington Palace. William and Catherine accepted a longer school run because they preferred the school’s wider offering, coeducational environment, and stated values.

George’s first day made the family role visible. William walked him into school on September 7, 2017. Catherine could not attend because she was experiencing severe pregnancy sickness while pregnant with Louis.

Two years later, the school became part of a shared sibling routine.

Charlotte joining George made coeducation more important

Charlotte started at Thomas’s Battersea in September 2019, joining George at the same school.

That decision reduced the number of separate schedules the family needed to manage. It also allowed the two older children to share a school community, travel routine, and familiar setting.

An all boys school could not have offered that arrangement. Coeducation gave William and Catherine more flexibility as their family grew.

The choice did not mean the children were treated as one unit in every respect. George and Charlotte entered different year groups and had separate classroom experiences. Still, the shared campus gave them a stable point in daily life.

This became even more important after Louis reached school age and the family prepared to leave London.

Lambrook combined nearly every priority in one place

In August 2022, Kensington Palace announced that all three children would attend Lambrook School after the family moved to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor Home Park.

The decision brought George, Charlotte, and Louis together at one school for the first time. It also placed their education near the family’s new home.

Lambrook is a coeducational preparatory school for about 630 children between ages three and 13. It sits on 52 acres in Berkshire and offers a broad curriculum, sports, performing arts, outdoor activities, day education, and flexible boarding.

Its age range solved a practical problem. Louis could enter the younger section while George continued through the upper preparatory years. Charlotte could remain with both brothers because the school educated girls and boys.

The palace said William and Catherine had found one school with a similar ethos and values to those they appreciated at Thomas’s. That statement offers the clearest official explanation of the move.

Lambrook also matched the family’s increasing preference for space and privacy. Its 52 acre setting gave the children more outdoor room than a central London campus could provide. The Windsor location shortened the connection between home and school while keeping the children within one educational community.

The cost difference helps define the scale of George’s next step. Lambrook’s published fees for the 2025 to 2026 academic year were £10,669 per term for pupils in Years 5 through 8, or £32,007 across three terms before separate boarding charges. Eton listed a fee of £21,099.60 per term including value added tax for the same academic year, totaling £63,298.80 across three terms. That makes Eton’s standard annual charge almost twice Lambrook’s upper school tuition. The comparison also reflects a structural change. Lambrook offers day attendance and optional flexible boarding, while Eton’s fee covers a full boarding education built around residential school life.

Eton changes the sibling pattern without erasing it

Kensington Palace confirmed on June 16, 2026, that George will attend Eton College beginning in September. Annual fees were reported at about £63,000 at the time of the announcement.

George turns 13 on July 22, 2026, which matches Eton’s standard Year 9 entry point. The school educates boys between 13 and 18 and operates as a boarding school near Windsor.

The decision creates a clear break with George’s earlier education. He will leave a coeducational school. He will no longer attend the same school as Charlotte and Louis. His weekly routine will also become more independent.

The practical change goes beyond sleeping at school. At Lambrook, George could attend during the day, return home regularly, and share one campus with his siblings. Eton organizes pupils into 25 boarding houses, each with about 55 boys, and gives every pupil his own room from the start. Each house includes boys across several year groups, while a House Master, Dame, and individual tutor provide residential, personal, and academic support. George will therefore move into a system where school, study, activities, meals, friendships, and pastoral care operate within one residential community.

The shift places more daily responsibility on him at 13 and reduces the direct role of the shared family school routine that shaped his years at Thomas’s and Lambrook. Eton’s published Michaelmas 2026 calendar runs from September 9 to December 17. After the scheduled short and long leaves are removed, George could spend about 79 nights at school during that first term, or about 77 if he uses both optional weekend leaves. His Lambrook routine allowed him to return home after ordinary school days, so the change converts most term nights into residential time.

At the same time, Eton preserves two priorities seen in earlier choices.

First, it remains close to the family’s Windsor base. William attended Eton while Queen Elizabeth II lived nearby at Windsor Castle, and the school’s location still allows easier family contact than a distant boarding school would.

Second, the choice fits George’s individual stage. The family could keep three children together while Lambrook’s age range allowed it. Once George reached 13, a separate senior school decision became necessary.

Eton also restores a direct family precedent. William attended the school between 1995 and 2000, and Harry followed him. George’s earlier schools differed from William’s, but his senior education will now follow his father’s route.

The palace did not explain why Eton prevailed over other schools discussed in the press. Reports linked the family with Marlborough College, Catherine’s former school, and several other options. None of those reports established the couple’s private discussions.

Claims that one parent won an argument or rejected the other’s preference remain unconfirmed. The verified fact is narrower: George will start at Eton in September 2026.

Charlotte and Louis may still follow different routes

George’s choice does not settle the future for Charlotte or Louis.

Charlotte and Louis are expected to remain at Lambrook for the 2026 to 2027 academic year. No official announcement has confirmed either child’s eventual senior school.

Charlotte cannot follow George into Eton because it is an all boys school. She could attend another boarding school, choose a day school, or continue in a coeducational setting. Louis could eventually attend Eton, but no confirmed decision exists.

William and Catherine’s past choices suggest that they will consider each child separately. They have used family tradition when it fit, as George’s Eton decision shows. They have also chosen newer routes when location, sibling access, or school structure carried more weight.

The next test will come when Charlotte reaches senior school age. Her options cannot include Eton, and no confirmed decision shows whether William and Catherine will favor boarding, coeducation, proximity to Windsor, or another priority. Their choice will reveal whether George’s move marked a broader family direction or a decision designed specifically for him.