Prince William and Kate Middleton face difficult school decisions

Prince William and Kate Middleton face difficult decision over sending ‘shy’ Prince George to boarding school and will not make a choice until their children’s personalities develop further, a royal expert has claimed. 

The Duke, 38, and the Duchess of Cambridge, 38, have been home-schooling Prince George, six, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, at their Norfolk home of Anmer Hall during the coronavirus pandemic. 

But Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine, has revealed how Prince William and Kate are ‘very carefully’ weighing up decisions about the future of their children’s education.

She told Ok! magazine that the duo are ‘modern parents’, adding: ‘I think they’ll wait to see how the children’s personalities develop, and take into consideration whether or not they would be happy to live away from home. Having experienced terrible trauma in his own childhood, William is very tuned in to his children’s mental health.’ 

She pointed out that the parents might be particularly aware of the children’s different personalities.

While Princess Charlotte ‘appears very confident’ and ‘would suit the boarding environment’, Ingrid commented that Prince George is ‘a shy little boy’, and compared him to his grandfather, Prince Charles, 71. 

But Ingrid also revealed that Kate may ‘feel more secure’ if Prince George goes to a boarding school where he can be ‘tucked away’ and ‘have more freedom’.

The expert said that the schooling may allow the heir to the throne to be ‘very protected from outside dangers.’ 

The expert said Prince William would be particularly conscious of his children’s mental health, having suffered ‘terrible trauma’ during his own childhood (pictured, arriving for his first day at Ludgrove Prep school, where he boarded, in 1990) 

The royal expert went on to say that the public has become ‘used to’ royals break away from tradition, so it wouldn’t be a big shock if the Duke and Duchess did decide to keep their children in day school. 

Prince William was just eight years old when he became a full-time boarder at Ludgrove School in Berkshire, where he appeared to thrive.

Kate also attended boarding schools, including Downe House, a girls’ boarding school in Berkshire, which she left after two terms for Marlborough College.

But while both of Prince George’s parents thrived at school, Prince Charles attended Cheam School in Hampshire and then Gordonstoun in Scotland, later calling the  experience ‘disastrous’.   

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been home-schooling their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, two, during the coronavirus pandemic 

Prince George is currently a pupil at Thomas’s Battersea, a £6,158-a-term co-educational school in south-west London, where he can stay for another seven years. Both Marlborough and £13,556-a-term Eton take full-time boarders from the age of 13. 

Friends previously said the couple are deliberating a ‘less traditional’ educational route for the future king than previous heirs. 

Meanwhile Princess Charlotte also attends Thomas’s Battersea, But while Thomas’ Battersea has resumed its classes for five-year-old Princess Charlotte’s reception year group, it is unlikely she will attend without her older brother, according to royal biographer Katie Nicholl. 

Six-year-old Prince George’s Year 2 class remains closed in the phased reopening of the primary school.

Both Kate and Prince William attended boarding schools during their youth (pictured, bottom left, the Duchess in an undated photograph by St Andrew’s School) 

Speaking to 9Honey, Katie said: ‘If they’re based at Anmer Hall, it would be very logistically challenging to send Charlotte back and keep George and Louis at home.

‘It would mean moving back to London for the sake of sending one child back to school and possibly, logistically with everything else they’re juggling in terms of official duties, it might just be too challenging and that may be why they decided not to do it.’

Katie added, however, that she believes the children could resume their studies at school in the near future.

‘I think it’s likely if George’s year does go back, even if it’s just for a short while before the end of term, then I think it’s probably likely they will want him and Charlotte to go back,’ she explained, pointing out that both children will be moving into a new year group in September.

Princess Charlotte and Prince George currently attend Thomas’s Battersea in London (pictured, arriving for Charlotte’s first day in September) 

‘If nothing else it will be an opportunity to say hello and goodbye to their friends,’ she added.

Thomas’s concludes its summer term on Friday July 3, with its summer extension coming to an end on July 17. Michaelmas term begins on September 7.

Katie said she doesn’t believe Prince William, 37, and Kate, 38, will make a ‘big deal’ of taking their children back to school as doing so would be ‘too disruptive’ amid the pandemic.

She said if they do return, she imagines it will be kept ‘pretty low key’ and done ‘quietly and below the radar’.