In a sweet scene very familiar with parents this week, 4-year-old Prince Louis has started school. The young prince was photographed proudly walking into his new school, Lambrook School in Ascot, with his big sister, 7-year-old Princess Charlotte and big brother, 9-year-old Prince George.
All three Cambridge children will be attending the private co-educational prep school, where fees start from a little over £13,000 per year. Confirming the news over the summer, the children’s new headmaster, Jonathan Perry, said: ‘We are delighted that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will be joining us this coming September and very much look forward to welcoming the family, as well as all of our new pupils, to our school community.’
Meanwhile, Ben Thomas, head of their current school, Thomas’s Battersea in London, said: 'We would like to thank George, Charlotte and all of our leaving pupils for upholding the school’s values and for their many contributions to school life throughout their time at Thomas’s. We wish them every happiness and success at their next schools and beyond.’
Lambrook School, where fees are between £13,167 and £20,997 per year, teaches 615 boys and girls aged between 3 and 13. It also offers ‘flexi-boarding’ from one to five days a week, and full boarding, with full-time boarders paying £25,440 per year.
It’s not known whether the royal children will board, but it’s unlikely given that Kate and William are said to have wanted to make the move to Windsor to balance work and family life and give their young children the chance to play and live in the countryside. The couple, who were said to love doing the school run themselves when they lived in London's Kensington Palace, have moved to Adelaide Cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle, the Queen's main home. It's also a 40 minutes drive from Kate’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, who live in Bucklebury, Berkshire and are said to be hands-on grandparents.
Lambrook School sits on 52 acres of land, has an orchard, a wood, as well as bees, piglets and chickens, a nine-hole golf course, a swimming pool and a dance studio.
While William and Harry famously went to Eton College, which is just over the river from Windsor in the town of Eton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis won’t be the first royal grandchildren to go to Lambrook School. In 1878, Queen Victoria’s grandsons, Prince Christian Victor and Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, both went to Lambrook School and it was reported at the time that their grandmother would regularly travel from her Windsor Castle home to watch her young grandsons play in school cricket matches.
Of the Cambridge children's school, headteacher Jonathan Perry says, ‘Most of all, we encourage our pupils to be kind to one another and to be concerned about the world in which they live. Our pupils are happy, and our priority is that they enjoy being at school each day. We give our pupils the “Feathers to Fly” so that when they move on to the next stage of their educational journey, they will spread their wings and will take flight; leaving as confident, happy, engaging, mature, considerate and thoughtful young adults who are outward looking global citizens.’