More than 30 years ago, a 14-year-old Prince William arrived beneath the grand red-brick facade of Eton College, preparing to begin a defining new stage of his teenage life.
Within just two years, the future King would be facing extraordinary personal turmoil, grieving the tragic death of his mother, Princess Diana, while still living with the fallout from his parents’ painfully public divorce.
Today, William is 44, and his eldest son, Prince George — who turns 13 next week — is set to follow the same academic path when he starts at the prestigious secondary school this September.
Yet royal commentators say the young heir will enter Eton in a very different emotional world from the one his father had to endure.
‘The difference is everything,’ commentator Robert Jobson told the Daily Mail. ‘William walked into Eton carrying his parents’ marital war. George walks in from a settled home.
‘Two parents, together, who built him a base and guard it fiercely. Confidence is not taught. It is absorbed.’
Jobson also recalled the day he first watched the young Prince of Wales step into the unfamiliar world of adolescence at one of Britain’s most famous schools.
Robert said: ‘It was 6 September 1995. Eton College. I was there, a reporter outside Manor House, in the pack. Behind a steel barrier.
‘A boy of thirteen came out with his mother and father to pose for pictures with his housemaster, Dr Andrew Gailey.
‘He had signed the Entrance Book. Charles and Diana stood either side of him. They were separated by then. The divorce was a year away.
‘Nobody standing there that morning knew what Gailey, a quiet Ulsterman, a historian, would become to that boy. A rock.
‘Two years after that photocall, Diana was dead, and it was Gailey who took William under his wing, educationally and emotionally, and steadied him. The school became his sanctuary.
‘It seems like yesterday. Time flies. That boy is now the Prince of Wales. His son, Prince George, turns 13 on 22 July and goes up to the same school for the Michaelmas Half.’
Robert explained that William and Kate have done everything and more to support their eldest son in the move, as George prepares for a new academic era.
More than three decades ago, then aged 14, the Prince of Wales stood in front of the imposing red brick of Eton College, ready to embark on the first chapter of his teenage years. William pictured in 1995 with his mother and brother
Robert explained that William and Kate have done everything and more to support their eldest son in the move, as George prepares for a new academic era
‘He asked them if he could board weekly at Lambrook. They agreed. It helped him grow, to be part of a collective,’ the expert said.
‘He is smart. He loves history. Standing before Henry VIII’s armour last October, his father said it plainly. “George, my son, is way better in history than I am, and I have to check with him now on my dates.”
‘He plays football and hockey. Hockey is his mother’s game. He supports Aston Villa, like his dad. Happy to cheer and punch the air in public.
‘He has not been spared pain. He watched his mother fight and beat cancer. He watched his grandfather live with it. He has emerged steadier.
‘Eton will be a challenge, but being close to home, in the shadow of Windsor Castle will help.
‘As he steps out in his tailcoat, false collar, he will look a picture.
‘But the environment will protect him like it did his father who thrived there.
‘Then time. A great deal of it, let us hope, for George’s sake.’
Kensington Palace earlier this summer announced that their son would be off to Eton.
The Mail was the first to exclusively reveal more than four years ago that the future King’s name had been put down for the £63,000-a-year boarding school, with sources saying it was the Prince and Princess of Wales’s ‘number one choice’.
The young heir will be worlds away from the emotional landscape his father William had to navigate, royal experts have said. William pictured in 1995
More than three decades ago, then aged 14, Prince William stood in front of the imposing red brick of Eton College, ready to embark on the first chapter of his teenage years. Just two years on from that moment, the future King was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, following his mother Princess Diana’s tragic death and the pain of his parents’ very public divorce. William pictured in 2000
One of the benefits is that it is just a stone’s throw from Windsor Castle, where the family have made their ‘forever home’ at Forest Lodge, on the Berkshire estate.
However the couple did explore other options and have been spotted in recent years at a number of different schools around the country in their search for the best place for their eldest child to continue his studies.
But earlier this month the Mail again exclusively revealed that their mind was made up after George, 12, took his Common Entrance Exams.
The prince, who has been an occasional boarder at his current school, co-educational Lambrook, near Ascot in Berkshire, in preparation for the move, will turn 13 on July 22 and will be ready to attend senior school from the autumn.
His younger siblings, Princess Charlotte, 11, and eight-year-old Prince Louis, will remain at Lambrook, where they have been extremely happy.
When William went to Eton, later followed by his brother, Prince Harry, it was considered something of a departure from the royal norm.
Both their father, King Charles, and grandfather, the late Duke of Edinburgh, had been sent to Gordonstoun in Scotland.
And while Philip loved it, Charles was bullied mercilessly and dubbed it ‘Colditz in kilts’.
William’s mother, Princess Diana, was particularly keen on Eton, however, as it was closer to her and the rest of the family.
Acclaimed royal correspondent Robert Jobson traces the modern monarchy’s turbulent journey from King George V to the future King in The Windsor Legacy
It proved to be the right decision and by all accounts William really enjoyed his time there.
He flourished educationally, becoming a prefect and therefore a member of its elite group, ‘Pop’, which came with the privilege of wearing a patterned waistcoat in addition to his black tailcoat, bow tie, brogues and stiff-collared shirt.
He also enjoyed the school’s sports provision and made a host of great friends, many of whom he is still close with today.
He would also often walk over the bridge to Windsor to have lunch with his late grandmother at her Berkshire residence.
A source previously told the Mail: ‘It’s the natural choice, always has been. Living at Windsor is very much a long-term decision for the Waleses.’
On its website Eton describes itself as a ‘modern, forward-thinking school that embraces innovation and new opportunities to provide an outstanding, progressive and well-rounded education’.
It is in the top ten of boarding schools in the country, one of the most influential and high-achieving.
