Kate Middleton trying to fit in at school gates – but there’s one big problem

Traditionally, royal children have either been home-schooled or, as was the case for King Charles III and his two sons, packed off to boarding school once they were old enough to tie their own shoelaces. Charles was sent to board at Cheam School in Berkshire, aged just eight, making him the first heir to the throne to attend a “civilian” school, while Prince William and his brother Harry both attended Ludgrove School, also in Berkshire, from the same age.

But the Prince and Princess of Wales clearly had something different in mind when considering their own children’s education, and instead chose to send Prince George, 1.Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six, first to Thomas’s school in Battersea, London, and then, when the family moved to Adelaide Cottage, they switched to Berkshire independent preparatory school Lambrook in 2022.

The co-ed school, set in 52 acres of stunning grounds near Ascot, Berkshire, is a 15-minute drive from their Windsor home and boasts a cricket ground, football and rugby pitches, a golf course and a £6m art and design building – aptly named the Queen’s Building. The combined fees for all three children are said to amount to more than £55,000 annually.

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Enrolling the children at Lambrook signals a sharp shift away from the strict, single-sex boarding schools earlier generations of royals attended. Despite a strong emphasis on academic learning, the school offers a dizzying array of extracurricular activities, from beekeeping and horse riding to caring for the school’s resident hens and pigs. This will no doubt have appealed to conservation-loving Prince William, who once remarked that it’s “so important to get outside and have the children understand nature”.

Photos of the couple dropping the children off at the start of the new term in September 2022 thrilled royal fans, and the family couldn’t have looked happier as they strode through the school grounds, hand-in-hand, on their way to a “settling-in” afternoon. In a statement released on 14 June, ahead of her triumphant appearance at this year’s Trooping the Colour, Kate revealed that even when she was undergoing cancer treatment, she relished being involved with the children’s schooling.

“On the days I feel well enough, it is a joy to engage with school life,” she said. William and Kate are actively involved in Lambrook events, and earlier this year it was reported that they even queued alongside other parents for a tombola at a charity fundraiser. “They do the school run and they are often seen cheering from the sidelines at sports matches,” says royal author Katie Nicholl. “They keep themselves to themselves, but they’re certainly not aloof in any way. They are part of the school community and very happy to be so. At Saturday soccer, they’re there to support their children.”

Insiders say both George and Charlotte are popular at Lambrook and that the Princess in particular is “kind and friendly” towards the other children. Louis, unsurprisingly, has made an impression for having “so much energy”. Perhaps most importantly, Lambrook has provided the children – and William and Kate – with a sense of stability during recent turbulent times. “When Kate was in hospital, George was on the football pitch playing with his friends,” says Katie.

“That sense of normality, of keeping the family going at one of the hardest times they’ve ever gone through, was important. The school gives them a great infrastructure and a great support network, and allows the children to live a regular childhood – a low-key, happy, albeit privileged childhood.”

The Prince and Princess of Wales have been friendly to their fellow mums and dads at Lambrook, which is said to be a friendly, sociable place for families, with regular coffee mornings and fund-raising events. But royal expert Duncan Larcombe says that the couple won’t be going out of their way to ingratiate themselves with the other parents.

“They’re very picky about the people they get close to, so they’ll be involved in school life without trying to become best friends with everyone,” says Duncan. “They’re not trying to climb the social ladder – they’re not even on the social ladder, they sit absolutely at the top of it – and one thing William would never do is befriend a celebrity for the sake of it.”

While everything seems to be running smoothly at Lambrook, it’s no secret that William and Kate have previously been divided over where to send the children once their time at prep school is over. William wants George to follow in his footsteps by attending elite single-sex boarding school Eton, but according to royal sources, the Princess would prefer her eldest to follow in her footsteps, at a mixed-sex establishment like Marlborough College in Wiltshire, which she attended from 1996 to 2000.

Despite George himself reportedly being on board with the idea of going to Eton, Kate was said to be “heartbroken” at the thought of her son attending the prestigious school, which she reportedly feels is too “stuffy” for her sons. “Kate’s preference is for George to be at a co-education school, so he can be with his siblings, which is what Kate experienced at Marlborough with her sister, Pippa, and brother, James,” says Katie.

“It was a very happy school life for her, but William has very fond memories of Eton, which has a long history with aristocrats and members of the royal family.” Although Eton may not have been top of Kate’s wish list for George, Duncan believes it’s a practical choice. “It’s where his father and uncle went, and it’s close by, in the shadow of Windsor Castle and only a short drive from Adelaide Cottage,” he says. “So he won’t have to board, but he’ll have the option of doing so if he chooses.”

Katie even believes royal trends could be bucked again and says that the Prince and Princess, renowned for doing things their own way, could deliver a surprising twist. “There’s always the possibility of traditions being changed,” she argues. “William and Harry didn’t end up following in their father’s footsteps by going to Gordonstoun [in Scotland], and it may be that George breaks the Eton mould and ends up somewhere else. “Whatever happens, it’ll be a decision made by William and Kate with George’s best interests factored in.”