Prince George followed in his father’s footsteps on Monday by attending elite Eton College near Windsor in the UK.
The young prince was taken to the 600-year-old institution by his parents, William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, as they were seen smiling as they were greeted by Eton headmaster Simon Henderson.
Catherine, Princess of Wales (L) and Prince William, Prince of Wales (R) walk with their 13-year-old son, Prince George of Wales (C), as he arrives for his first day at Eton College on September 8, 2026 in Berkshire, England.
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Prince George joins a growing list of senior royals who have attended Eton, including his father, the future king, and his uncle, Prince Harry.
Eton is one of the UK’s most elite academic institutions, rich in tradition and renowned for its network of influential alumni, including 20 British Prime Ministers, including Boris Johnson and David Cameron. The school is also close to Windsor Castle, one of the royal family’s most famous residences.
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Actors Hugh Laurie, Damian Lewis, Eddie Redmayne, Dominic West and Tom Hiddleston also attended Eton.
It retains many traditions: students wear tailcoats as part of their uniform, as well as vests and robes, and teachers are called “beaks”.
FILE: Eton College boys stand before headmaster Tony Little as he arrives for morning assembly on September 6, 2007 in Eton, England.
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The boarding school for boys, founded by King Henry VI in 1440, costs around £65,000 ($121,000) a year.
Prince George, who is second in line to the throne after his father, previously attended the private Lambbrook School, also near Windsor, with his sister Princess Charlotte and younger brother Prince Louis.
Prince William became the first member of the royal family to attend Eton. His father, King Charles III, attended Gordonstoun, the same private school on the north coast of Scotland that his father, Prince Philip, attended, but life and the notoriously tough school proved challenging for him.
The Prince of Wales said he enjoyed his time at Eton and recently revealed how he often pops into Windsor Castle at weekends for tea with his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
FILE: 6 September 1995: Prince William at Eton to register for college and also to take up residence in the mansion where he will live while at college.
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Prince George’s first day coincided with the fourth anniversary of the death of his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
According to a June Vanity Fair article, his memoir SparePrince Harry described his time at Eton as a “deep shock” and recalled how William asked him to pretend they didn’t know each other.
Prince William had already been at the school for two years when Prince Harry joined about a year after their mother, Princess Diana, died in a car accident in Paris.
“He was building his own life and didn’t want to give it up,” he wrote, adding that sport had been his lifeline during his time at Eton.
— with files from Reuters
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