Why Prince George is the best-prepared teenage heir in history

The case for Eton is clear. Unusually, even for a top boarding school, the boys of F block (first years, to the outside world) each have a bedroom to themselves. George will be just down the road from his family in Windsor, and there are no girls to complicate matters in front of prying eyes. Year-nine boys, of which George will be one from September, are not allowed smartphones, instead being allowed only a “brick phone” for basic contact with their families.

William and Catherine are determined, sources say, that their son should be allowed to continue his education in peace and privacy – and the brick phone policy is integral to ensuring that. The Prince and Princess are “extremely protective” of their children, says Russell Myers, the best-selling author of William and Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story, but they are also accessible and approachable. They will be on hand to help George “navigate” the challenges of the modern world if need be, Myers says.

“William’s experience of Eton was a happy one, but both he and Catherine realise their children’s school lives may be considerably different in today’s world.”

They are highly alert to the dangers of social media. The Prince has previously tried to persuade tech giants to do more to protect children (“Fight back against the intolerance and cruelty that has been brought to the surface by your platforms,” he urged them in 2018), and the Princess’s illness has left her even more convinced about the need to swap screens for outdoor time. “In an increasingly digitalised world, where so much of life is mediated through screens, the need for genuine human connection has never been greater,” she said earlier this year.

Choosing Eton, Myers explains, was a family decision. “If it didn’t work for him, it didn’t work for the family,” he says. “This shows how connected they are and how George and his siblings have been prepared for whatever may lie ahead.”

Melanie Sanderson, the managing editor of The Good Schools Guide, says Prince George, like most of his cohort, will be “really well prepared” for Eton, where all new starters are “tiny fish in a big pond” and must master the skill of being in the “right place at the right time” for classes in what is sometimes described as a “mini university” town.

“The boys are expected to be really independent from the word go,” she says. “It’s a big place with a lot of people and a lot on offer.”