Prince George will start Eton College this September, Kensington Palace confirms

Kensington Palace has confirmed where the future king will go to school. Prince George — the eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and second in line to the British throne — will start at Eton College this September. The Palace announced the decision on June 16, 2026, ending months of speculation about where George would continue his education.

George turns 13 today, July 22. Eton takes boys from the age of 13, and the move places him at the same historic boarding school his father, Prince William, and uncle, Prince Harry, attended. As CNN reported, the confirmation was deliberately low-key — no staged photo call, just a short statement that George will join Eton in the autumn.

What the Palace confirmed

The confirmed facts are simple:

• George will start at Eton College in September 2026.
• He is leaving Lambrook School in Berkshire, where he has been a pupil since 2022.
• His younger siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, remain at Lambrook, according to reporting around the announcement.

The Palace kept it brief on purpose. After years of press speculation — and some reports that William and Kate might choose a co-educational school instead — the family confirmed the choice plainly and moved on.

What Eton is, and what it costs

Eton College sits across the River Thames from Windsor Castle in Berkshire. It is an all-boys boarding school for pupils aged 13 to 18, and it admits roughly 270 boys a year. Fees for the 2025/26 year are about £63,298 — a figure CNN framed for U.S. readers as around $80,000 a year.

Multiple outlets have reported that George will board in Manor House, the same Eton house where William and Harry lived. That house detail comes from press reporting rather than the Palace's own statement, so we note it as reported rather than officially confirmed.

Where the Royals Went to School

Where senior British royals were educated — a searchable record

A searchable table of where senior members of the British royal family were schooled — from Queen Elizabeth II's private tutoring to King Charles at Gordonstoun to Prince William and Prince Harry at Eton, and now Prince George, confirmed to join Eton College in September 2026.

Search the tableDownload CSV

Royal	Notable school	Era	Notes
Prince George	Eton College (Berkshire)	From Sept 2026	Second in line to the throne; joins the all-boys boarding school at age 13. Earlier: Thomas's Battersea (London) and Lambrook School (Berkshire).
Prince William	Eton College (Berkshire)	1995–2000	Widely described as the first heir to the throne schooled at Eton, breaking the family's Gordonstoun tradition. Earlier: Wetherby and Ludgrove; later University of St Andrews.
Prince Harry	Eton College (Berkshire)	1998–2003	William's younger brother. Earlier: Wetherby and Ludgrove; later the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
King Charles III	Gordonstoun (Moray, Scotland)	1962–1967	Earlier: Hill House (London) and Cheam prep school. Then Trinity College, Cambridge — the first heir to the British throne to earn a university degree (1971). Has spoken of unhappy years at Gordonstoun.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh	Gordonstoun (Moray, Scotland)	Mid-1930s	Among Gordonstoun's early pupils under founder Kurt Hahn; set the family's Gordonstoun tradition. Earlier: Cheam and Schule Schloss Salem in Germany.
Princess Anne, Princess Royal	Benenden School (Kent)	1963–1968	Educated privately at Buckingham Palace until 13, then boarded at Benenden — a break from schooling royal daughters entirely at home.
Queen Elizabeth II	Educated privately (at home)	1930s–1940s	Tutored at home with her sister, Princess Margaret, including constitutional history lessons; did not attend a formal school or university.

How this is calculated

A hand-checked table of the schools and universities attended by senior members of the British royal family, verified against reputable biographical coverage and each institution's own history. The most notable secondary school is listed in the 'School' column; earlier prep schools, universities and other context are summarised in the notes. Eras give the secondary-school years where known.

Data as of July 21, 2026 · verified July 21, 2026 · v1

Assumptions, limitations & sources

Assumptions

• · Eras reflect secondary-school years where known; earlier prep schools and later universities are described in the notes rather than dated precisely.

Limitations

• · Covers a selection of senior royals, not every member of the family.
• · Some early education was private or at home and is described rather than dated.
• · Prince George's Eton start (September 2026) is confirmed by Kensington Palace; his boarding house and some finer details are as reported by outlets, not officially confirmed.

Sources

• CNN — Britain's Prince George will enroll at Eton, the elite school his father attended — CNN, checked July 21, 2026
• NBC News — Britain's Prince George to go to prestigious Eton College — NBC News, checked July 21, 2026
• GB News — Kensington Palace confirms Prince George school decision — GB News, checked July 21, 2026
• TODAY — Prince George to Attend Eton College, Following in His Father's Footsteps — TODAY, checked July 21, 2026
• Spear's — Where did members of the British royal family go to school? — Spear's, checked July 21, 2026
• HELLO! — Everything you need to know about King Charles' education — HELLO!, checked July 21, 2026

This is what modern SEO looks like: not just an article, but a useful resource people can return to, cite, and share. See how this newsroom is growing · See DavidWeaver's SEO packages

Following his father — and breaking an older tradition

It is easy to read George's enrolment as pure family tradition, and in one sense it is: he is the third generation of this branch of the family to attend Eton. But the Eton tradition is newer than it looks.

When William started at Eton in 1995, he was widely described as the first heir to the throne to be schooled there — and his choice broke the older royal pattern rather than continuing it. For a generation, the male royals of the House of Windsor had been sent to Gordonstoun, the demanding boarding school in Moray, Scotland, founded by educator Kurt Hahn.

Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, was among Gordonstoun's early pupils and set that family tradition. King Charles followed him there in the 1960s — after earlier years at Hill House in London and Cheam prep school — before going on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where in 1971 he became the first heir to the British throne to earn a university degree. Charles has spoken of unhappy years at Gordonstoun, and Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were schooled there too.

The switch to Eton for William and Harry, made by Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, is often linked to Charles's own experience — and to the Spencer family's long connection to Eton on Diana's side. So George's move this September continues the Eton chapter William began, not the older Gordonstoun one.

The questions readers are asking

When does George start? September 2026, at the start of the school year.

How old is he? He turns 13 on July 22, 2026 — the age at which Eton admits new boys.

What school is he leaving? Lambrook School in Berkshire, where he has studied since 2022. Before that he attended Thomas's Battersea in London.

Are Charlotte and Louis moving too? No. Reporting around the announcement says both remain at Lambrook.

How much does Eton cost? About £63,298 for the 2025/26 year.

Did William really go to Eton? Yes — from 1995. Prince Harry followed from 1998.

Where did King Charles go? Gordonstoun in Scotland, then the University of Cambridge.

Why it matters, and what happens next

For a future monarch, secondary school is a formative and closely watched step, and the choice says something about how William and Kate want George raised — closer to Windsor, in a setting his father knows well, with the family's more recent Eton tradition rather than the Gordonstoun one his grandfather endured.

For now, the confirmed news is narrow and clear: George starts at Eton this September. Details such as his exact boarding house, security arrangements, and first-day plans have been reported but not all officially confirmed by the Palace, and we will update this story if the family or the school formally addresses them. The searchable table above lays out where the rest of the senior royals — from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles to William — were themselves educated.