Prince George Heads to Eton, Following In the Footsteps of These Celebs
Prince George is headed to Eton College.
The eldest son of Prince William and Kate Middleton will enroll in the elite all-male boarding school in the fall of 2026, Kensington Palace announced Tuesday. George follows in his father’s footsteps by attending the school. The news came amid speculation that the future king and queen might send George to her alma mater, the coed Marlborough College.
Eton College alums include Prince William and Prince Harry, plus many other royals
Eton has strong royal connections. The school was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. In addition to educating William and his younger brother, Prince Harry, the school’s alums include Queen Elizabeth II’s cousins Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent, and the late Queen’s uncle, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, as well as various other royal relatives. William and Harry’s maternal uncle, Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer, also attended Eton, as did the grandsons of Princess Margaret.
William has spoken in interviews of his fond memories of his time at Eton. Harry, however, had a more challenging time, saying he only managed to make it through by immersing himself in sports.
“Sport held me together,” he recently told Time. “I was one of those kids at school who did not enjoy classroom work. If it wasn’t for the sports field, and the amount of sports that were on offer, there’s no way I would have stayed in school.”
Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Laurie also attended Eton
Eton has a reputation for educating royals and other members of the British aristocracy, many of whom have gone on to careers in politics and the government. (Twenty U.K. prime ministers were Old Etonians.) But the school has also produced notable figures in the arts and entertainment.
Ian Fleming, who created James Bond, attended Eton, as did Oscar-winning composer and frequent Trent Reznor collaborator Atticus Ross. Adventurer and TV personality Bear Grylls attended the school (his dad was a member of parliament). And the school – which currently enrolls about 1,350 students – has an impressive number of actors on its alumni roster, including Hugh Laurie, Damian Lewis, Dominic West, and Harry Lloyd.
Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne also both attended Eton at the same time as William. Redmayne even played rugby with the future King,
“I did play rugby with Prince William,” Eddie said during a 2018 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen (via People). “I always felt a bit sorry for him because basically any school you played, all they wanted to do was tackle Prince William and they could say, ‘I tackled Prince William.’ So if you were standing next to Prince William, like I was, it was actually quite easy and quite fun.”
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