Prince George will begin at Eton College in September, the same school his father, Prince William, attended from 1995 to 2000. Times have changed since then, and royal author Robert Jobson has explained what will be most different about Prince George's experience.
A Settled Home vs. Marital Turmoil
Writing for the Mail, Jobson said: “The difference is everything. William walked into Eton carrying his parents' marital war. George walks in from a settled home. Two parents, together, who built him a base and guard it fiercely. Confidence is not taught. It is absorbed.”
Reflecting on William's first day, Jobson added: “A boy of thirteen came out with his mother and father to pose for pictures with his housemaster, Dr Andrew Gailey. He had signed the Entrance Book. Charles and Diana stood on either side of him. They were separated by then. The divorce was a year away.”
“Nobody standing there that morning knew what Gailey, a quiet Ulsterman, a historian, would become to that boy. A rock. Two years after that photocall, Diana was dead, and it was Gailey who took William under his wing, educationally and emotionally, and steadied him. The school became his sanctuary.”
Social Media and Camera Phones
Another difference is the digital age. The Daily Mail's Rebecca English noted that Prince William and Princess Catherine's “biggest worry” for their son involves “an entire generation armed with camera phones.” When William attended, smartphones did not exist, but George is growing up with them.
William and Catherine do not allow their three children to have phones, though William has mentioned George might get a “brick phone” at Eton. The school does not allow smartphones, which will likely please the couple.
