\u201cI know that when the Royal Family joined Lambrook<\/a>, for example, there were a few grumbles about just everything being tightened up and the loss of a very sweet, quite small, family-focused school,\u201d Melanie Sanderson, managing editor of The Good Schools Guide, said. <\/p>\n \u201cSuddenly gates were locked. It was harder to drop a forgotten item off. Sports day becomes a grander occasion. The carol service each year becomes a grander occasion. It just changes the dynamic of the school.\u201d<\/p>\n It is something that the Prince and Princess of Wales are acutely aware of and they are grateful for the understanding of other families, according to those close to them. It is also something that parents contemplating sending their offspring to some of Britain\u2019s top public schools are bearing in mind as George, who will be 12 on Tuesday, enjoys an eight-and-a-half-week summer holiday before starting his final year at Lambrook.<\/p>\n At summer gatherings all over the country, wealthy parents are trying to work out which school the future King will be attending in September 2026 and whether it will be a good or bad thing if their children are there too.<\/p>\n George\u2019s fate is almost certainly already decided, but Kensington Palace shows no sign of wanting to make an announcement about it imminently. Some parents who know the Waleses are adamant that George is going to Eton<\/a>, where his father Prince William and uncle Prince Harry were educated. It has always been the favourite, with the added benefit of close proximity to the family home at Adelaide Cottage, and Windsor Castle<\/a> sits just across the Thames. <\/p>\n But others who move in royal circles are equally convinced he is headed for \u00a359,143-a-year Marlborough College, his mother\u2019s former school and a possible destination for his sister Charlotte, 10, and Louis, seven, when they are older. Some parents even think they know which house he will be in at Marlborough, perhaps repeating gossip in some newspaper reports, and have voiced similar excitement and apprehension about the possibility of the heir to the throne and his siblings being there.<\/p>\n William and Kate, who have also been to look at University College School and Highgate School in north London, are so well versed in keeping secrets that nobody in the media can be sufficiently sure to stake their reputation on it yet. But their choice for George may say something interesting about him and also about how our young royals are educated in the 21st century.<\/p>\n His late great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II<\/a>, was educated at home. King Charles<\/a> was sent to his father\u2019s old spartan boarding school, Gordonstoun, which he once suggested he hated but later said he had enjoyed. What will be the best education to prepare George <\/a>for a life of service to his country?<\/p>\n As the eldest of three and with much of his future mapped out before him, George appears to be the serious one, but we don\u2019t actually really know that much about him. <\/p>\n His parents have tried to fill in a few of the gaps down the years by dropping little stories about all three of the children into their conversations while out on official engagements. But what do we really know about our future king?<\/p>\n We know he is sporty, enjoying playing and watching football particularly, and that one of his favourite songs last year was Thunderstruck by AC\/DC. But his last recorded favourite subject at school was Earth sciences, studying volcanoes, when he was seven in 2020.<\/p>\n His parents, anxious to protect him from the intrusive childhood that both William and Harry endured<\/a>, may not worry too much about that of course. Part of the argument is that the more normal a childhood their three children can have now, the better adjusted they will be to tackle life in the public spotlight when they are older.<\/p>\n Joe Little, a veteran royal watcher and managing editor at Majesty magazine since 1999, wonders whether George\u2019s personality and a more informal style of royalty these days means certain types of school may be better suited to an often serious-looking and self-aware boy. \u201cI just have that feeling that it won\u2019t be Eton,\u201d he said. \u201cI wonder whether it will be too elitist or too fuddy-duddy for a future king in the 21st century. My money is on Marlborough.\u201d<\/p>\n Marlborough, a co-ed boarding school occupying 250 acres in the Wiltshire market town, is sporty and is strong in the arts with a list of alumni that includes not only Kate and her Middleton siblings, Pippa and James<\/a>, but also Princess Eugenie, Samantha Cameron, comedian Jack Whitehall and, going back further, William Morris, John Betjeman, Louis MacNeice, Siegfried Sassoon, and the Oscar-winning screenwriter, actress and director Emerald Fennell.<\/p>\n However, Sanderson is fairly confident that George is going to Eton, a boys-only school for the global elite where the fees for boarders are now \u00a363,297 per year. \u201cOne of the things that the Royal Family have got to really take into consideration is the security arrangements, and one of the reasons that I think he will go to Eton \u2013 that\u2019s my guess \u2013 is they are well versed there in educating senior royals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She also cited the opportunity to meet others from a global elite, and how the social background of the pupils and their parents will make them more comfortable around royalty.<\/p>\n There is another factor that has not really been brought up until now, she believes: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to really remember that, aside from being directly in line to the throne and being our king, George is also going to be the head of the Church of England. In terms of that real and very genuine religious education and approach to practising the Christian faith, I think Eton has got the edge in compulsory chapel.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanderson also insists that in an age when younger royals are expected to be able to mix with people from all backgrounds, schools like Eton or Marlborough are suited to any personality and offer enough opportunity to meet the less privileged. \u201cIn most of the schools they\u2019ll be looking at they\u2019ll be sent out into primary schools, old people\u2019s homes, they\u2019ll be sent out to work in charity shops,\u201d Sanderson said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe focus on service and understanding one\u2019s privilege and how that fits into the greater context of society is such a big part of a public school education now. It\u2019s not like it was for the Queen, being locked away in an ivory tower.\u201d<\/p>\n There are alternatives, such as UWC Atlantic<\/a>, a \u00a337,500-a-year boarding school founded by Prince Philip\u2019s mentor Kurt Hahn, who set up Gordonstoun. The school, which is housed in an 800-year-old castle in Llantwit Major, South Wales and has been dubbed a hippy Hogwarts, teaches the International Baccalaureate and is popular with the Dutch, Spanish, Belgian and Jordanian royal families. But it has not been on British royalty\u2019s list. <\/p>\n![\"BRACKNELL,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_174750482.jpg\")
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis (centre) with Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, at Lambrook School in 2022 (Photo: Jonathan Brady\/Pool\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"EMBARGOED](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_123736923.jpg\")
William and Harry both attended Eton in the 1990s (Photo: Stefan Rousseau\/PA)<\/p>\n![\"ETON,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259309827_0ede43-e1752856284162.jpg\")
William at Eton College in 2000 (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty)<\/p>\n![\"ELGIN,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259309920_a7d055.jpg\")
Charles on his first day at Gordonstoun in 1962 (Photo: Keystone-France\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty)<\/p>\n
![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258939012-e1752856081887.jpg\")
Prince George, bottom left, at the Wimbledon final with his sister and mother (Photo: Ray Tang\/Anadolu<\/p>\n