Prince George of Cambridge starts his big-boy school this week, and the plan, before Duchess Kate announced her pregnancy, was that his parents will both be on hand to pose for photos outside of the school, and then there will be a reception for all of the new kids at Thomas’s Battersea School. The headmaster of the school is already giving interviews about how the school helps kids, and their parents too, and it basically sounds like a haven for helicopter parents. No judgment, I guess – I had a tough time adjusting to kindergarten too, apparently, but with some tough love, I worked through my issues. Kids are resilient, especially when they have supportive parents. Which brings me to this column in the Daily Mail by Rachel Johnson. Johnson basically says what I said when the school choice was first announced: why are the Cambridges sending George to a school that is a 30-minute drive from Kensington Palace? Some highlights from Johnson’s piece:
As a battle-hardened veteran of the London school run, not to mention the endless kiddy parties and sports events to which one has to fetch and ferry, I’m also thinking that Battersea is a far cry from Kensington Palace. To be precise, it is three-and-a-half miles away across the capital’s clotted carriageways. Prince George is four. Are the Cambridges insane?
Like everyone else, I assumed their first-born would be toddling off this week to somewhere a hop, skip and a jump from home so his little friends would be on hand for those all-important play dates, weekend activities, carol services, Nativity plays and so on. His dad went to Wetherby Prep and so did naughty Uncle Harry. The boys in their uniforms there look like crosses between Just William and the Duke of Windsor, it’s highly rated and hyper-local. I thought the tom-toms about Wetherby being the Prince’s first school sounded spot-on.
In their shoes, I’d have gone for it, too, though I might have been tempted by the CofE primary down the road, St Mary Abbots. It was good (and safe) enough for the Camerons’ children, and just think of the fantastic PR for the modernising Royals if they’d decided not to send their kids to private school, thus perpetuating our educational apartheid system… but still. Unlikely. Even in 2017.
And then it was announced that young George was not going to Wetherby or one of the other nearby Poncey Preps. He was going even further than most London cabbies are willing to venture: south of the Thames. According to Google maps, last Friday at 3.30pm, ie before term has even started, it would have taken 36 minutes (‘heavy traffic as usual’, the directions advised) for the weary Prince to return home after his long day in the pottery room or on his tricycle on the rooftop playground of his Battersea school. From Wetherby? Three minutes.
…I can’t get past the sheer inconvenience of the arrangement – not just for the Royal pupil and parents, but for everyone. Unless the cops clear the roads twice daily and whoosh our wee laddie in a blue-flashing-light convoy of cars and outriders, he will spend well over an hour in traffic every day. Should other ‘road-users’ really be delayed on their own business by a special Prince William Lane, all to get a four-year-old, albeit a very special one, to ‘circle time?’
See? I’m not the only one who thinks this arrangement is insane, at least. It’s one thing if you’re in the middle of the countryside, with farms all around and only one school close by. Then it’s understandable to have that kind of commute to and from school. But they’re in the middle of London, one of the biggest and most sprawling cities in the world. William and Kate are going out of their way to send George to a school that is 30 minutes away from their London homebase, Kensington Palace, for no real reason. Even if Thomas’s Battersea was just the best of the best… then it still wouldn’t really make sense. The only way this makes sense in any way is if this is yet another scheme to avoid work…? And taken with Kate’s pregnancy… I don’t know.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I guess you have to worry less about the school drop-off and pickup when you a) don’t have a job and b)have drivers and don’t have to worry about parking, the tube etc.
I mean, so what if this additional commute will quite literally cost millions in security and other logistics over the years. Not like Cathy or Willy have to actually earn or pay a dime.
It’s going to be interesting to see how they navigate his school run because it’s not as simple as he will be 30mins away in regular traffic.
All routes to Battersea from Kensington are a nightmare bottleneck of traffic. Throw in a royal motorcade that has right of way in the manner of ambulances, and it will be a nightmare for everyone regardless of their views on royals or the cambridges in particular.
Wait, are you saying regular commuters will have to pull off to make way for George’s school run, twice a day, five times a week? Seems like a PR nightmare.
D’you think they’ll motorcade him, LAK? I reckon it’ll just be incognito.
Couldn’t agree more – all traffic in zone 1 & 2 London is a total nightmare. I just took a cab from my flat in Bayswater to office in London Bridge (not that far!) and it took an hour and ten minutes (normally would tube but had to do a call). Still ended up walking last ten minutes. It is literally standstill in some places – and that’s not even rush hour.
Incognito still means 2 cars at minimum. I can’t see how his RPOs will accept having to sit in traffic like all the other commuters at peak traffic commuting time.
It’s going to be a nightmare, isn’t it?
Maybe they’ll do helicopter rides… wouldn’t put it past them.
There will totally be a motorcade, cause these 2 are like so NORMAL.
Snark aside i think its pretty common for the royals, esp senior royals, to use police outriders for personal travel, have seen this a few times. But then again it depends on the royal. Didn’t the Cambridges use them when they were travelling to the fake royal wedding from KP earlier in the year?
But yes as others have said – traffic in central London is horrendous pretty much most of the time.
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Carol will have time an excusr to hang at KP – gasp- pick up and run the stagf and household, while snowflake is with HG.
Nanny Maria will nred to stays in with charlotte snowflake the 3d. Petulant billnot kannot really fIngering and undermining the POW Line.
LOL @ “south of the Thames”. The horror!
They just don’t seem able to make a single practical decision, do they? It’s all “this is my sudden desire and I don’t care how hare-brained it is or how impractical it is, the whole world must adjust itself to fit”. And then, three weeks later it’s “oh, changed mind now. World, adjust back. Pronto.”
It’s rather wonderful living in a village in the back end of beyond. Everyone goes to the same school. The school bus picks ’em up at 8am then drops ’em back at 4pm and because the school bus is the only vehicle on the road at 4pm, you can just let them walk the 100m home by themselves.
It’s like they don’t live in the real world (which I suppose they don’t – but don’t they have advisors and stuff?). Even if it’s all done incognito, it will inevitably, lead to added traffic and inconvenience for regular folks and an enormous cost to the taxpayer in terms of protection costs. Whatever they say or do, it will cost money to protect that little boy for an hour+ in central London traffic twice a day, five days a week.
Either these two dummies are completely clueless, or just don’t give a shit. I’m inclined to think the latter. It’s disgusting and disappointing.
I also think the hour is an underestimate, especially during rush hour.
And it’s not as though there isn’t a wide choice of more practical but equally great schools, is it? London is awash with pre-preps for special snowflake kids.
They’ve done this with so many different things before that I get the impression that they are like spoiled children in toy shops, refusing to look past the first shiny thing they saw even though Mummy and Daddy keep pointing out there are even better shiny things in the next aisle if they’d just stop tantrumming for a second and look.
Royal protection command have already let it known that they are unhappy with this decision.
The school has a second site in Kensington, but WK chose the farthest site.
The problem isn’t the school, it’s the security risk.
For Americans who don’t get this, think about Melania’s initial refusal to leave Trump tower in NYC and the disruption and money that caused for ordinary new yorkers.
No, completely different situation. I’m American and the difference was major that FLOTUS didn’t immediately move into the White House for the first time since like the 19th century. The cost won’t even be remotely similar; again it’ll be 2 black SUVs that take him everyday. They’ll just have to do a background checks on teachers, workers and some parents; but it won’t be that bad. Also isn’t Wetherby boys only; this way all their kids can go to the same school for elementary.
The main issue with the school being south of the river is that there are only two bridges that they can take: Chelsea bridge and Albert bridge. This in itself is a security concern. In addition, Albert bridge, in particular, has a narrow aperture at the entrance (to slow down the traffic) and the SUVs would have to slow right down. This is a significant security concern. The alternatives are Westminster bridge (making the commute at least 45-50 mins, one way) or Putney Bridge (super far away and an utter nightmare at the best of times). It’s a terrible decision.
Jessica, that wasn’t my point at all.
The point was the practical nuisance of her decision to stay put in Trump tower when there was another less disruptive, already costed option on offer.
Her decision ended up being more costly, more high risk in terms of security, and more disruptive to the ordinary people of NYC.
And Americans bitched about it even though they understood her reasoning that she had to wait out Barron’s school year.
There is also a branch of the school closer to KP and on the same side of the Thames. Couldn’t make a choice that considers others (people, kids, commuters, security). That’d be against the grain.
If there are only two routes to school then he becomes an easy target for anyone who wants to do harm. And if the traffic is jam packed, there is not much the RPOs can do.
They claim this is about the school being co-ed but really there are other co-ed schools anyway.
@LAK
I understand that it costs a lot for Melania to stay at Trump Tower and I was pissed off as an American. My point is that this won’t be even remotely the same in cost comparison. This is comparable to any First Kid (Chelsea, Obama girls, Nixon kids, Barron, etc.) traveling about an hour to school and back everyday.
Barron will be going to school in Maryland. His commute will be much longer than George’s and through some of the worst traffic in the US.
I’m sure WK and Melania have their reasons, but I would lose my damn mind if I had to sit in that traffic everyday.
Jessica, you are really not getting my point despite explaining it to you several different ways as well as others chiming in to clarify same point.
I actually agree with Jessica that it’s not the best comparison. Yes, I understand the significant security risks associated with this commute, that now everyone and their grandmother knows about. But the conflict and security issues of Melania staying in New York was well beyond inconvenience to regular New Yorkers, and the expense wasn’t comparable.
@LAK
You’re not getting my point either; I’ve also explained it several different times. People on here hate Catherine (fine) but they are acting like this is such a poor parenting move or such an inconvenience security wise when it’s not. That was my point. George’s commute is not comparable to Melania staying at Trump Tower for 6 months as FLOTUS.
I have not said anywhere that the cost, security, disruption caused by Melania is exactly the same as the cost and disruption caused by George’s potential commute.
It should be plainly obvious that they aren’t the same.
The important point that i keep repeating is that ordinary people are inconvenienced in both situations, that security costs rise in both situations. That it is puzzling how these considerations aren’t a factor in the decision making of the principals.
That *Americans were irritated by the results of Melania’s thoughtless decision as much as *we are irritated by WK’s thoughtless decision.
*to be clear, i’m saying Americans in general terms, and also speaking of Brits in general terms. I’m not speaking for every individual american or Brit.
@LAK
No you didn’t say the costs were exactly the same but imo you were making a wildly uneven comparison.
“For Americans who don’t get this, think about Melania’s initial refusal to leave Trump tower in NYC and the disruption and money that caused for ordinary new yorkers.”
A similar comparison would be the commute that Sasha Obama had to Sidwell Lower for 2 1/2 years (which was my point). DC commuters/Americans were not irritated by her commute and it was not a thoughtless decision. Melania (speaking about Barron’s new school) and Michelle chose the best schools for their kids and I would imagine William and Catherine did the same.
Jessica: Sasha’s school arrangements are/were not international news therefore i couldn’t use those in my example. And if Sasha’s commute didn’t disrupt DC commuters then good for everyone.
On the otherhand, the results of Melania’s decision to stay put in NYC, and the resultant inconvenience and disruption for ordinary New Yorkers was international news.
It’s not rocket science to understand that as a public figure, her arrangements were disruptive and resulted in higher security risk and cost.
It doesn’t have to be a like for like situation to compare the end result which is disruption and higher security risk or cost regardless of actual costs in both scenerios.
@LAK
How old are you? It was international news when the Obama girls school was announced, just like George. You seem to really be off base. Take a moment to read what I’m writing. I agree that Melania’s stay in Trump was extremely disruptive, period. My other point is that the disruption she caused is in no way comparable to the disruption that George’s commute will cause; it is a wildly uneven comparison. That’s what I’m getting at. Other people have agreed with me but you don’t seem to be understanding what I’m saying. You are comparing apples to oranges.
I live on the same block as the school that Trump’s son attended. In the mornings, it wasn’t as bad as expected – for most of the drive he was on a road through Central Park that is normally closed to public traffic (it’s used by runners, cyclists and as an emergency/police route). He was on public roads for 2 or 3 blocks on either end. He was at school long before the other students were being dropped off – his cars were gone before the normal drop-off chaos started. It was the afternoons that were an issue. He was dismissed through a back door that is across the street from a very large public elementary school leading to a lot of school bus backups.
Dear friends of mine lived in London for a few years, when we were all pre-kids. They were on Holland Street, right off Kensington High Church, and around the corner from St Mary Abbotts. We’d see those kids whenever we went to visit – they were adorable little munchkins. At 4 years old, there is no reason to do a long commute to school – stay local!
I was born in Manhattan and have friends and family sprinkled all over the city and all of them found it inconvenient no matter where they lived. You have your routes and methods of transportation that you are used to but she forced people to have to change established routines and plans. My elderly grandmother can’t sit in traffic for hours so she was stuck above 60th until they left.
Trump Tower is on 5th ave which is a major thoroughfare for traffic and pedestrians. Rush hour is a nightmare as it is. There were checkpoints, closures, protesters, security and extra policemen. Madison avenue was impacted and East 57th to the west side was impacted. It is a major shopping area so people just didn’t bother.
Whoever claims it wasn’t inconvenient or it didn’t make people extremely angry doesn’t understand the New Yorkers relationship with patience.
I still resent paying for her to stay, so he could finish school. He should have paid for it out of his imaginary billions.
500,000 a day!
LAK is saying their decision is whimsical and unnecessary. They aren’t forced to do this. There are other options available.
30 minutes is a bigger deal in the UK than it is to a lot of Americans. In LA it takes 30 minutes to get anywhere practically.
No, it wasn’t Melania’s decision.
I was lucky not to be here at the time for the most part but it was insane.
LAK’s age is neither here nor there.
She (I think) is talking about the inconvenience to other regular working people in both scenarios. Whether you think the two are comparable is neither here nor there. The point is there is inconvenience to regular commuters.
Not to mention security risks.
LAK, I am an American and a NYer and you are absolutely right – Melania’s decision was all about her, she and Trump didn’t care one bit about the inconvenience and the issues they caused for other NYers, and that is where they are the same. In that all they think about is themselves.
Protecting George will be crazy expensive on this commute, but that wasn’t the point at all. It was the Screw You! to the regular people when it wasn’t necessary to do that.
I have pointed out the whole nutty idea of sending Prince George to a school where there are two bridges to cross everyday. It is a red herring. Would any mother put her child, no matter his/her status, in harm’s way everyday? I was in London one day when the Queen visited a few places. The traffic was awful, and I could not move for hours. Hours. Good luck with protecting a four-year old dealing with traffic and terrorists.
Reality is school near Kensington Palace (duh).
They have made this choice on purpose. I see them turning down engagements this year because of the long school run. At least one parent will accompany Georgie each day. There goes the morning! Willie will insinuate again peasant mother and fathers who aren’t there for their kids are just bad parents and neglectful.
I would also say Kate (or carole) pricked holes in the condom this summer to have a pregnancy to coincide with the summer of Diana and the upcoming harry Meghan announcement. Not to mention counteracting chuck hiring that high powered mentor for useless waity. I distinctly remember Willie saying 2 kids were plenty. It was only waity that wanted 3
But how could they possibly keep that a secret? Everyone will find out on Day 1 when he shows up a totally different school than previously announced. Why bother lying?
Even if they have all the time and money in the world, a 30+ minute commute is hard on a kid. I do it with my son (he’s just 2), and in the afternoons, he can be pretty grumpy and just wants to run around. I wouldn’t subject him to it if we had a better option available. I’ve managed to wrangle my own work schedule so we at least avoid peak commute hours and the trip doesn’t wind up spiraling into an hour or more, but it’s still a long commute for a little kid.
Well, they won’t care if they inconvenience the plebs. They sound like Donald Trump in that aspect. But I would think the security would be an issue. Getting your child to a school 5 minutes away seems a LOT safer than sending him every day to a school 35 minutes away through heavy city traffic. Security is good, I’m sure, but really…unless he is getting security the likes of which our idiot fake-President gets, which will cost the British taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year, going that far every day adds risk to what is already a scary life for a parent.
Barron Trump is about to do the same thing! Rather than usual DC schools he’ll be headed to Maryland every day.
That’s because he didn’t qualify for Sidwell Friends, where most of the past POTUS kids of school age have attended. They don’t give a rat’s ass about one’s last name or parents’ standing; you either have the grades/intellect for them, or you attend elsewhere. Barron is attending elsewhere.
Not cool Honeybee…unless you are privy to his personal school records, testing, grades, etc…how the heck would you know? Hate trump all you want but take a break on the kid, ffs…
I just feel bad that the poor kiddo has to wake up that much earlier for school. I remember those days. Rough times.
That was my first thought as well. He is going to be one sleepy, grumpy Gus. It seems very unfair to him.
Although maybe they are planning on using the school as a reason to move later?
Where can they move? Their home is KP.
How far is the school from Anmer? My guess is they banked on Kate getting preggers, and with the fake HG they’ll have an excuse to retire to the country for the sake of her health. Perhaps they’ll helicopter George in and out every day from either residence.
Anmer Hall is in Norfolk, a completely different county. Google maps says it’s 114 miles away from central London, so even with a helicopter, that’s a crazy commute, not to mention an even bigger cost to taxpayers.
There had to be a co-ed school within easier distance to KP.
Algernon: there are many co-eds closer than the one chosen.
Infact, the particular chosen school has a second site situated much closer to KP, but they decided to go with the site farthest away.
@ LAK
This makes no sense to me. *Why* go so far for school, with all the cost and trouble involved? I don’t understand anything these two do.
My school was 7 minutes from home but my parents worked so my sister and I took the bus, which meant an almost hour long bus ride. Each way. Such commutes suck for children. George will probably quickly tire of this. It’s a strange choice.
My husband had to do that, too. It’d be about a 15-20 minute drive to school – but it was easily an hour or more on the bus. He’d need to be out waiting for it at 6:30am. He absolutely hated it. We don’t have kids at this point, but he 100% was looking at the potential commute to school from the house we ended up buying so there wouldn’t be any more hour and a half bus rides.
I took the bus to primary school as well (my mom worked), though I think it was maybe 35-40 minutes or so, versus 15 going directly. As for George, I think it would be massively different being in a private car than in a bus…heck, he could sleep all the way there if he wanted to, lol. It does seem like a silly thing to make a kid do, especially considering how many other schools they had to choose from.
I grew up in a rural area, so I rode the bus, but I usually enjoyed it. I talked with friends, played card games, read books and relaxed. One of my friends and I drew cartoons together and wrote stories.
I had to take the bus from grade 2 -12 with the same bus driver, who was friends with most of our parents so we sort of had to behave. I remember a couple of times looking out the kitchen window and seeing the school bus parked at the end of our driveway. A mad scramble, yelling at my two brothers, racing around the house grabbing jackets, books, lunches, getting us out the door and barrelling down the drive way onto the bus. The joys of small town life.
Because his parents have not had to commute, ever, never having had a real job and all, peak hour traffic is a foreign concept to them. Maybe they will use the private helicopter…. so normal….
Yeah well
What do you expect?
People who didn’t have to work a moment in life to earn the money they spend so freely, they would concern themselves with inconvenience of other people or wastage of other people ( tax payer) money?
Its us lamos who have to worry about time and petrol and budget.
If she takes him every day and collects him, that’s about an hour an half to drop him off and get back to KP. Then add in time for her to get ready for engagements, get to them- so none outside London- do them, back to kp, change (cause ‘normal people’ don’t do the school run in Prada and McQueen) then battle through traffic to collect him. Any idea what time he’ll finish? Doubt he’s in till 3 every day. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for work does it. And don’t forget charlottes meant to be starting pre school soon. That’ll probably be the other side of London and she’ll have to do the drop off for that too.
If his commute causes extra traffic, won’t that only worsen their image? Also, I think after this one they should stop having kids. It’s a luxury of time and money to have a large brood and as public servants they shouldn’t flaunt they have so much of either.
Something positive. Whatever school, at least George gets to come home to his parents every afternoon. Boarding school is fine at 12-ish, imo, and even then it depends on the personality and character of the child. It works for some families but I absolutely can not imagine it.
Nope. You’re assuming. William is often off on trips. We see it when he returns or after scandalous photos are taken. Fits are thrown. And Diana’s name is dropped. George will likely go to a residence with his nanny Maria, but not to parents. And Kate… she could be working. She could be on vacation with william. She could be out shopping. These are regular occurrences. Not covered in pr articles, but logged in social media with evidence.
If this was so George could be home with a parent or both… sure, but that’s been proven as something unlikely to happen.
His parents may or may not be home each afternoon but for the most part I am assuming that he will see them, his nanny and his sister nearly every day and almost certainly weekends. My point was that the circle of care he has experienced since birth is relatively intact because he won’t be shipped off to boarding school. Even at age eight I find this to be a horrible idea although some families prefer. Imo, they need so much love, support and guidance when they’re small that even the most pastoral faculty and staff can’t prove a worthy substitute for it.
Yes, but flip that argument for a minute – for Royals a boarding school is simply the best choice. For all the reasons stated. It allows his parents to work the jobs their position expects, often in other locations or countries. It still allows for weekend and holidays at home and above all – it is SAFE. Which is the point isn’t it? This is a disaster waiting to happen. He’d be safe if he was boarding (they are not the horrific places Charles experienced, ask any modern Forces kid) and it would allow his lazy parents to work. I have sympathy for the argument they want their kid at home but other people with jobs that entail long absences manage it and it’s not like they can’t afford the best. He’ll adjust easily, more easily than when the first idiot tries to shoot him. IMO.
I feel awful for all of the people who are about to have their daily commutes screwed up because the royals will have right of way on the roads. As if it’s not already annoying enough getting stuck in traffic, now it’ll be worse and it’s all because they’re insisting their child not go to the school closer to home.
Also poor George, he will now be spending more time stuck in a car instead of playing, reading, relaxing after going to school.
Maybe it’s the best choice of school for George? I don’t understand why people on this site spend so much time criticizing everything Kate does from how she raises her children to her clothes and make up. Who the hell cares
Apparently none of these people have lived in DC or even NYC. When you live in a city with people who have security you adjust. Royals live in London so the city has adjusted to them; yes George will have probably 2 security SUVs but they will hardly cause a scene taking him to school everyday (likely no flashing lights or stopped traffic and no helicoptering to school).
The Danish royal kids have a similar commute as well; Copenhagen is doing fine.
Actually, the royals with children aren’t in London (or central London).
With the exception of William and Harry and their few years at Wetherby, all the royals send their kids to schools in the countryside. Unclear whether that was/is by choice or design, but it keeps the kids out of the way and relatively untroubled by these considerations.
Btw, Wetherby is a skip and a hop from KP. Walking distance of 10mins. Tops.
The important royals live in greater London, period. I don’t care about other royals. It doesn’t matter care how close Wetherby is; they are sending their own children to the school of their choice. There’s nothing written that they have to go to school in Kensington or Wetherby. My point is that this won’t be a large distraction; it’ll be two black SUVs that take him to school everyday and then that’s it. Where is the major trouble?
None of the important royals sent their kids to schools in London. Exception William and Harry and that ended at 8yrs old.
Charles spent only months at Hill House in Knightsbridge before he was carted off to a school in Berkshire.
Anne, Andrew and Edward were homeschooled until they were old enough to be carted off to Berkshire.
I don’t know about you, but Berkshire is not Greater London.
And no one is criticising the choice of school itself or saying they can’t exercise said choice. What we are criticising is the decision to choose a school on a route that will cause maximum disruption because it is already a traffic hotspot.
The school has a second site closer to home that isn’t as disruptive for everyone including George.
I came on to say the exact same thing. I live in NYC. Kids commute and sometimes longer than 30 minutes and not often in luxury automobiles. He will live and the city will adjust. It’s not that deep.
Ok so you know how difficult it can be to get off the island of Manhattan, how much traffic there is at the bridges and tunnels? London has more bridges, but they, and the roads, are smaller. This is like living in lower Manhattan and sending your VIP child to school in Brooklyn.
@Jessica
That is normal security and yes we are used to diplomats and security, but we don’t pay huge amounts in taxpayers money for them, and they don’t clog 5th ave. The don’t have that level of security, and they don’t block off travel routes. There was a petition to try to get her to leave so it wasn’t well received.
This isn’t about liking someone. It is about common sense.
Oh my goodness, like Copenhagen has the amount of people London does. Is there any other country you’re an expert on Jessica? I’m Aussie, want to tell me about my country now?
LAK is saying that no royal kids have commuted this far in London before. Fine. So if that’s the case, *where* are people getting these predictions of motorcades and roads being closed and huge surges in traffic from? Talk of American presidents and their spoiled wives is irrelevant to this conversation. I think Jessica’s theory is sound: in the absence of a British precedent, it’s fair to assume that George will travel the same way royals typically travel through the city, i.e. a couple of SUVs or sedans with shaded windows. If that’s the case, there will be no effect on traffic. My money is on the status quo.
Jessica, you’re not allowed to post on this site under different names. You don’t seem to know that. Don’t let Kaiser catch you.
@Ange, right? lol…
People are getting these predictions from their experience of living in London. London traffic is a finely balanced operation, with Transport for London staff sitting in a control room and changing the timing of lights at key intersections in real time to keep things moving. This is not New York or DC or LA, which have many roads with multiple lanes. Bad traffic yes, but completely different.
George will have to go over a bridge each way. These bridges are narrow, they’re not like the GWB. An ambulance delays traffic considerably. The royals actually don’t do that many engagements in London (and Princess Anne, who does more engagements than William, Kate and Harry put together, doesn’t have a motorcade). When the Queen opens Parliament, the traffic is a nightmare.
Many of these commenters are British, and their tax dollars go to funding Kate’s clothes and makeup and security for George’s unnecessary commute to this school. When she’s seen to be making irresponsible choices, people are going to comment.
I’m American so what I think doesn’t mean a hill of beans, but I’m flabbergasted that she does so little. She campaigned for this job for a decade for petes sake!
Tax pounds though…
If they needed to be in that brand of school, there is a branch much closer to KP and on the same side of the Thames.
The Kensington branch is located on four different campuses. The children walk from one to another. There is no way security could police George safely.
And Wetherby isn’t coed, which the Cambridges clearly want, and only takes boys to 11.
Thomas’s takes children to 13., pushing back boarding school, if that’s what the Cambridges go for, by 2 years.
If the commute proves problematic for whatever reason, then there can be a rethink, but why not wait and see before condemning parents trying to do the best for their child.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not condemning them for trying to do their best for their child. I’m condemning them for not caring that their preferences are going to make life worse for the long-suffering commuters of this old, crowded, creaking-infrastructure town (and money belonging to those commuters pays for their luxurious life).
What Tina said.
ella14, because their decision will inconvenience tens of thousands of other commuters. And on the security issue, others here who know London have said the more direct routes have to go over bridges, which have bottlenecks as they get nearer. Are they going to close off the bridges for this 4 year old child to get through? That should go over well. Or are they going to sit in traffic, giving any harmdoers an easy and perfect target? Either way, it isn’t good for anyone.
ella14, your comment about the Kensington branch of George’s school seems extremely relevant. It does sound like security would be more complicated if George was out in the open that much more often.
They don’t need to be in that brand of school. There are over 10 excellent prep schools closer to KP than this one.
I live in London (in Kensington) and I know London very well. I can tell you for definite there is no way this is not going to cause major disruption. It’s really rude to tell people you know their country better than they do.
So true
& nobody here seems to appreciate that a royal prince, no less, is going to actually spend time in South London
Note to non-Londoners: South London is the scruffy part (it s gentrifying but it will never be as posh as the city centre) & it s historically a total no-go area for toffs, the rich & most North Londoners to be honest.
So, welcome little George!
I bet the uproar caused by George will prompt W&K to move George to a local school near Amner & off they’ll go back to their country home away from prying eyes once again.
That’s my guess. They planned on finding ways back to hiding out Anmer and that pregnancy and HG are especially convenient. Willy will have to be a househusband to care for the wife and brood.
Yeah Willie caring for his brood: this is so strange. Do you think his aristo pals , and yes they all have jobs, skive off to be househusbands? No they work. Their brood has lots of hired help and support. They don’t take a year off when they wife gets pregnant. This lazy git needs to stop looking for excuses. Its sooo obvious.
Sasha Obama had an 1 hour commute with a motorcade; she had to get up at 5 am when she was 7. Barron Trump may have a similar commute, he goes to school in Potomac, MD. There are kids all over the US (rural, city, magnet, charter) who have to commute up to 2 hours to get to school. It’s not that big of a deal. This doesn’t make them bad parents.
I can actually see why they want him to go to school outside of London city limits; yes there are probably more younger, professional parents. Not sure why people are making his commute an issue.
He’s not going to school outside of the London city limits – Battersea is zone 1/2 border, not exactly suburban.
Great; so he’s going to school on the perimeter of city limits. I looked up the neighborhood and it seems to have a lot of young, professional parents that they can establish a relationship with. I thought it was a great idea.
It’s NOT on the perimeter of city limits, it really isn’t – unless you’re confusing it with the City of London, which is the small area that contains the financial district and very little residential housing.
Battersea is not London City limits at all. It’s a surburb across the river from Kensington.
The city of London is the financial district *in London* situated on the East Central side of London.
Kensington and Battersea are situated on the South West side of London.
@LAK and Ponytail
My point is that he is going to a school with kids that are young, professionals which is probably what W&C wanted.
@Jessica, and this is just a question, do you really think that they are going to establish a relationship with the young professional parents? I doubt it.
Battersea is not a suburb.
Zone 1/2 is not a suburb.
The City (note capital ‘C’) is a district of London, but is not London, the city. Something just outside the City is not a suburb.
Something on the edge of the city is a suburb.
@swak,
Yeah, like they did with all their military friends and their wives.
@Swak
Yes I do because George, Charlotte and the new baby may go there until they are 13 and that’s a long time. I expect that they’ll be having sleepovers and parties and they’ll have to establish a relationship with those kids parents. Again just like a First Kid in the US they’ll make connections with those kids parents because of how much time their kids may hang out with one another. They’re supposed to be having a normal childhood.
Ponytail: i was being facetious vis a vis Battersea being a suburb, but you are right😊
Kate and Will are neither particularly young nor are they particularly professional… 😉
The uproar is frankly ridiculous. Like you said kids here do that commute every day. In NYC most kids commute more than 30 mins to go to the school of their choice. I commuted 45 mins or more from the time I was 6. The school down the road was so easy for me that I read every day for half a year at my desk instead of doing work.
The hoopla is only because it’s Will and Kate
Exactly; Michelle Obama commuted like 90 minutes to school everyday and she grew up working class. It’s a luxury to live 5 minutes from your children’s school; most normal parents have at least a 20 minute commute.
Out of interest, how large are infant/primary schools in the US? Here in the UK, the average pupil roll for a primary school is about 180 kids. (For a secondary/high school, about 1,000 kids).
Most Brits living in an urban area would be within easy walking distance of a primary school.
@Sixer
My elementary school had about 800 kids in it when I went there; now it’s about 1000. My high school (grades 9 – 12) had 3000 kids and is probably around 3200 now.
Ah. I wondered if this was at the root of the different ways commenters are coming at this. Thanks!
Simple
Given the past history, they will special snowflake the special snowflakeness of George
Office hr traffic would be stopped and roads will be cleared off for them to pass.
Next the amount of unnecessary money to be spent on the protection and security services. They all are amounting to loads of unnecessary expenditure for people who don’t really serve the tax payers unlike the President of USAs children.
If it does not happen, it is done economically and with full respect to the day to day commuting problem of average people. you can come back and call the commentators out again.
“They all are amounting to loads of unnecessary expenditure for people who don’t really serve the tax payers unlike the President of USAs children.”
First Sons and Daughters and don’t serve tax payers either. The security expenditure will likely be the same for a First Kid and probably won’t cause much of a disruption for commuters; George is a future Head of State so his security is necessary. If you want a republic that’s another topic.
The president’s kids aren’t always school aged and they have to deal with a maximum of 8 years, sometimes less. With the royals it is the entire brood for their entire time as school aged kids. Big difference.
Also, presidents are elected and you can decide if the cost of schooling is an issue for you when you vote. UK taxpayers have no choice and the royals blow through money including security costs without impunity.
So until the con artist family eliminates elections, there remains a huge difference right there.
@ Nic919
I’m American I understand all of this. UK taxpayers can get rid of their royal family if they wanted to; except most of them approve of a monarchy. But that’s another topic. My point with the comparison is that George is a future Head of State and his parents should choose the best school for him. Going to a school that’s 30 minutes away isn’t going to break the bank. If they want to cut down on the cost of security they need to either get rid of the royal family or only give protection to the Monarch and the heir (Elizabeth and Charles).
“Also, presidents are elected and you can decide if the cost of schooling is an issue for you when you vote.”
I need you to clarify this; most people don’t vote for a candidate based on how many kids they have and what school their kids might attend.
@Nic919
Presidents are sort of elected. In the U.S., we are still bogged down with the archaic and unfair electoral college.
Sasha and Malia Obama (and Chelsea Clinton) went to Sidwell Friends, 4 miles from the White House. I just Googled. Current drive time is 21 minutes.
Washington traffic is bad but not near London bad.
Michelle Obama attended her neighborhood elementary school. She walked. She attended a magnet high school that was some distance away, but she took buses to get there, disrupting nothing.
Different situations entirely.
@Suze
Sasha Obama went to the Sidwell Lower school for 2 1/2 years which is in Bethesda, MD with DC traffic (the worst in the country). It was a 30-40 minute commute without traffic (Barron’s commute is 30-47 mins without traffic). Michelle Obama said that both girls had to wake up at 5 am. My point is kids (and even special kids with security) have to commute it’s not the end of the world. This won’t be as disruptive as you’re making it out to be. He’ll likely travel with 2 black SUVs and that’s it.
I brought up Michelle on a different comment because I wanted to make a point that it isn’t a luxury to commute some people have to do it to get to better schools.
Jessica, you’re getting a lot of grief, but I think the main issue is that you are arguing several different points here. I actually don’t care much about George or the Cambridges, but the examples you were using don’t prove your point. Unless your point is that lots of kids spend a lot of time in cars.
George isn’t being ferried across town to get to a better school than any of the several nearby – they are doing it to get him to a different school for god knows what reasons. They certainly don’t have to tell anyone, it’s their business. But there is no doubt it’s a production and he’s 4, for heavens sake.
Michelle Obama going to a magnet school high school in Chicago is entirely different from ferrying a four year old around town. Even Sasha Obama – at 7 – going to Sidwell is different from a preschooler.
@suze
I’d say the reasons are probably that they like what the school has to offer .
It’s obviously coeducational , then all in one place , with a pre school attached and students won’t have to change schools until they are 13 .
Yes, yes, yes. Thank you for your astute comment. My children went to an independent school in a large US city. It was a good 30+ minutes each way. The school was chosen (actuallly being non royal your child competes for a slot, a process that involves cocktail parties as well as testing) because of their skill set and our educational values. The commute was expected, good grief everything is a commute. One child needed a more intense setting in high school and did not want to go to boarding school, they commuted an hour each way five days a week. We chose to have children and we need to honor their needs (as much as is possible).
Cocktail parties as part of the selection process? Okay.
It did not take 1 hour to get from the WH to Friends.
Michelle Obama stated that the girls had to wake up at 5 am to get to school on time. Sidwell Lower starts at 8:30 so I imagine that most of that time was commuting in heavy traffic. She likely had to leave the house at 7 am to get to school on time after 2 hours of getting ready and eating breakfast.
First : travel from D.C. Into the Maryland suburbs go against rush-hour traffic. Thus, half the time.
Second : Michelle Obama’s daughters had to wake up at what time? Poor, poor pitiful kids. My kids went to private school – same commute and time, and no way did the girls need to be awoken at an early hour.
Third : Grade four and above at Sidwell is an xtremely easy commute from the White House. The students are accepted if their parents are important, and /or extremely rich these days. There are a few charity kids, to keep the school from too elitist. Most kids at Sidwell today are not the best or brightest – just kids of politicians.
@Golden Ashley
Ok fine but I was going off of Michelle Obama’s words. I would imagine it’s still a 30 minute commute which is the same as George.
“Third : Grade four and above at Sidwell is an xtremely easy commute from the White House. The students are accepted if their parents are important, and /or extremely rich these days. There are a few charity kids, to keep the school from too elitist. Most kids at Sidwell today are not the best or brightest – just kids of politicians.”
I think you mean 5th grade and above; 4th is still in the lower school. From the White House to Sidwell Friends Upper is 20 minutes in DC traffic; not super easy but not going to kill anyone either. Not sure how the rest of your comment is relative to our convo.
Jessica
Who said they were bad parents? Cut the hyperbole. It’s 2 key points I’m getting here.
1. Time and cost. They chose the further location which is more costly and takes longer. 30 minutes 1 way seems to be an estimate in good conditions.
2. There is no advantage to this location vs the closer 1. It’s instead a disadvantage. Greater cost. Greater security issues. Greater disruptions to all. And greater cost, but they do not pay so why should that matter.
This isn’t criticising what you think it is. You’re leaning to defend normal parents and use other people as comparables I’m a branched off context to support your argument. You’re defending your point with discussion points that drift off subject for what is being discussed.
Not about parenting.
We’re just going to have to disagree; I can see the advantage of him going to the school in Battersea because it’s in a neighborhood with a lot more young, professionals. Just because there are a network of schools with one being closer to his home doesn’t mean there isn’t a school that’s a better fit for him. That was my original point; there is a closer school but this specific school may fit him better based on the kids, teachers, etc. People want to make his commute a bigger deal when it’s not. And yes other people where bringing up their parenting if you read other comments.
Jessica,
No one is saying anything about parenting. It’s the inconvenience to other people.
And the extra cost. And I bet Sidwell doesn’t have a closer campus to the WH than the one in Bethesda. The school that George will be attending has a campus nearby. And as for the argument that Will and Kate will be with professional parents, are you implying that the other campus has bums for parents? Are Will and Kate professional?
@Maria
As I stated in my previous comment just because they have a closer campus doesn’t mean that the school is a great fit for George. My city has a charter school system with 4 elementary schools; 2 campuses aren’t well run and 2 campuses are excellent even though they have the same name. That was my point. They might not have liked the Kensington location and the Battersea location may have a younger group of parents. When the school was fist announced it stated that Battersea is a young, professional area in comparison to Kensington. It was more about age not that KP parents are bummy (not sure how you made that connection). William and Kate aren’t really yuppies but they may prefer that crowd in comparison.
Royal Families are a inconvenience period; the British can get rid of them if they would like.
The kid is 4 and an hour total commute there and back will make the day long for him. They aren’t teaching him rocket science at this age. A nearby school would make more sense. It’s not like they live in a ghetto with no decent schools available.
And if they wanted to switch schools later on, they wouldn’t have any issue finding a spot because they get what they want anyway. Normal parents don’t have the options they do.
Well as for Will and Kate sending George to the Battersea site so they can be with young professionals is interesting. The Kensington site which I don’t know much about will presumably include older parents who have 4 year-olds and have titles and nannies. But Will and Kate don’t relate to that crowd eventhough they have titles and nannies. They relate more to young professionals who might be doctors, lawyers and what not, who don’t have titles and may not even have nannies. And who may live in the Battersea area which of course facilitates sleepovers etc with other students.
Professionals actually work and neither Will and Kate do so how will they relate? Or is it because they expect them to kowtow more than aristos would?
While the mums with jobs talk about fitting everything in their busy schedule what can Kate even say to that?
The Obama girls attended Sidwell Friends school. The lower school (up to third grade) is located in Bethesda, MD. The upper school is on Conneticut Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. Maybe 15 minutes by car from the White House. Hillary Clinton liked to accompany Chelsea in the morning to Sidwell. At times, Hillary would dismiss the limo, after carpool drop-off, and walk back to the White House by herself. This whole Battersea school is silly.
The drive from 1600 Penn to Sidwell Friends (middle and upper school) is 20 minutes. It would be a 90 minute walk back to the White House so I don’t believe you. There’s no way the Secret Service would allow the FLOTUS to walk back from the school to the WH by herself.
The Obama girls attended Sidwell Friends school. The lower school (up to third grade) is located in Bethesda, MD. The upper school is on Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. Maybe 15 minutes by car from the White House. Hillary Clinton liked to accompany Chelsea in the morning to Sidwell. At times, Hillary would dismiss the limo, after carpool drop-off, and walk back to the White House by herself. This whole Battersea school is silly.
Honestly if you’re going to mouth off about a foreign city to actual natives of that city pick up a freaking map first.
Fair play you want to defend W+K, but don’t argue London against actual Londoners, especially when you clearly know zero about London.
@Meggles,
Whatever; whether Battersea is or isn’t within city limits wasn’t the point. I just google mapped the time it would take to go from KP to the school.
Those who live in London know far better than those who look at it from the outside, as Meggles and LAK have pointed out repeatedly.
@notasugarhere
Again read my comments; whether it is or isn’t within city limits wasn’t my overall point. I understand there will be traffic; my point was it isn’t that big of a deal and kids all over the world commute to school for even up to 2 hours one-way everyday for the school year. People were commenting about how unfortunate it was for him to have to commute when he’ll be fine.
George will be fine. Londoners will suffer.
The point is that they choose a branch of the school further away when they could have chosen a closer one. That choice will negatively-impact many many more people than necessary.
DC is not planned like NYC. You can’t compare them.
One issue with this: what professional parents would want to be friends with a woman who has never had a professional position in her life and still can’t even make a simple speech?
not only that, are professional parents at the Battersea going to feel comfortable having Georgie over for a play date or a birthday party? The kid could well feel left out. And does the protection officer have to accompany George to a sleepover?
Clearly, they haven’t thought this through.
And, you are right, what common ground is there? At least with the Toffs in Kensington, they move in the same circles.
For plenty of the couples sending children to this school, one parent will be professional, the other will be a full-time parent. Or at least, a full-time nanny supervisor with plenty of time leftover for Pilates and spin classes.
No, Jessica, Sasha had a 20-minute commute from the WH to SF. Barron’s commute will be between 25-35 min. I lived in both DC and Potomac for a combined 13 years. And commuted the same. Barron is not attending Sidwell Friends because he didn’t qualify.
How could you possibly know anything about his academic qualifications HB? Its fine to dislike Trump but why make negative statements about a child? Perhaps the Trumps didn’t want to send their child to an ultra-liberal school favored by Dem parents like the Clintons and Obamas? Perhaps they worried he might be picked on by classmates spewing their parents hatred?
“…our educational apartheid system…”
Good god. How ridiculous and insensitive can you be.
She’s not wrong, Privately educated students make up 7% of the population, and have a completely disproportionate influence in all areas of public life in the UK. There is no equivalent in the US.
It’s an apt description.
What is your issue with it?
Throwing around metaphors employing words like “apartheid” and “Holocaust” always seems in poor taste to me.
So you’re criticizing the choice of words without actually knowing what it’s meant to describe?
I know exactly what it’s meant to describe. I live in the UK. It does a piss-poor job of properly describing the system.
My kid’s school is 35 minutes away. I picked it because I like it. I don’t know anything about the possible traffic issues this will cause, if any, but I don’t think it’s that weird to send a kid to school 30 minutes away. Kids spend more than 30 minutes on buses going to school every day. And buses cause a hell of a lot of traffic. No one cares about those “poor children” or those “poor commuters.”
Since his parents are so keen on being normal, he and Kate should take the bus there and back.
That’ll give them both a proper taste of normal and cause no disruption to anyone.
That’s what I was about to say. William and Kate want to be normal plebs so badly, after all, so why not send the kids to a school that’s more than ten minutes away like real plebs do? School starts again this week in my city, and the morning commute will once again be full of parents getting on the public bus to take their kids to preschool and daycare and big kid schools that are in the middle of town, which means getting the kids up super early, waiting for the bus, and being on said bus for however long the trip takes. It’s just what happens.
I can’t remember who I was talking with on the last Prince-George-goes-to-school post, but it was on the topic of the elitism that comes with dropping kids off at school yourself versus sending them on the bus or having them walk: this is what I mean. Everyone freaks out when the little kiddies have to get up early to get on the bus, because it’s a crime, I guess, not to hand-deliver your offspring to the school, when in fact it’s not a big deal.
There’s a proposal in town to make one of the schools (currently a neighborhood K-8 elementary school) into a middle school, because the city keeps building houses and the schools as they are right now are bursting at the seams with 30+ students in one class, and parents are all upset because Precious Timmy and Sally would no longer be at the neighborhood school down the block, they would have to travel elsewhere in town, the poor dears. Reality is, either the parents take the kids to school, or they suck it up, give the kid money for the week, and they learn to use public transportation; BUT, we can’t have that, can we?
This school location was said to be Kate’s choice entirely. Maybe the narrative has changed, but early on that’s what was said by all sides in the group.
Why doesn’t Will just tell the media that Kate will do some royal stuff when George is 14 or so and just be done with it? Maybe when Charles is king and they become P and Pss of Wales they will make Anmer their Highgrove? They seem to hate KP, despite the renovations. Clarence House has also had renovations as well as the private quarters at BP. It all makes me wonder.
Because she is very keen about lying to us about how keen she is to get to work every six months or so.
LOL @ P and Pss of Wales. Yes, I know I’m being juvenile.
Well he is the future king of England. Why shouldn’t they close the road for him? If you’re going to have a monarchy, might as well go full on with it.
The level of criticism those 2 get is borderline irrational… I’m pretty much sure if they had picked Wetherby House or Cameron’s kids school, people would somehow still have a bone to pick…
Funny thing is Cameron sent his kids to one of the best state schools in the borough which is across the street from KP!!!
Has any British child ever been sent to a state school? It wouldn’t kill them to be exposed to their future subjects. I believe the European royals send their children to state schools, at least during the early years.
British child? Yes Royal? No. The article even mentions that probably wouldn’t fly even in 2017.
I don’t know why there is such a fuss about the school anyway. The royals have not been intellectuals since time immemorial and there is no evidence it’s going to happen in this generation either. Will had his degree basically given to him and Kate spent her time copying notes and now makes dumb comments about Fabrege eggs despite being an art history major.
George doesn’t need to be smart to be king and if there is a school across the road where David Cameron sent his kids, then that should be good enough. The extra cost for commuting and security should be billed personally to the Cambridges just as any other parent would be required to take on the cost of sending their kids outside of the school district.
I guess I’m not seeing the issue. I traveled 30-35 everyday to get to school growing up. And I lived closer to other schools, but my parents wanted me to attend one that was better. No big deal. And someone already mentioned the Obama girls and now Barron going the same distance in D.C or outside D.C. for school and I’m sure we (U.S. tax payers) paid for their security and what not (correct me if I’m wrong), so the tax dollars/pounds argument doesn’t stick with me. I guess if traffic is disrupted, then it’ll make sense why ppl are complaining but that hasn’t happened yet. IDK I haven’t had my coffee yet, so maybe I’m not seeing the big picture.
The issue is that London roads are already at breaking point. Until a few months ago I lived on a road that leads to one of the major bridges that is one of the only routes across the river in West London. That road was constantly gridlocked and it can easily take over an hour to drive less than two miles. That bridge is dangerously near collapse (has been closed multiple times to do stopgap repairs, including one time when a member of the public notices a major bolt had burst loose!!). The council are trying desperately to eke out the life of the bridge by a few more months but it’s dangerous and they will have to close it for maybe a year or more at some point in the near future, and God only knows what will happen then.
Americans have no idea how tiny our roads are, how old and weak some of our bridges are, and how fundamentally unfit for purpose our transport system is. Ditto just how crazily overpopulated London is. It’s a very serious problem already; adding a motorcade and the inherent safety risks of taking a high security person across a very narrow bridge that cannot be safely secured could very easily push things to real problems. At the very least it will cause extra disruption.
Yes. This. Exactly.
I do know and you can see others don’t by their comparisons. London wasn’t planned with this problem in mind.
Thanks for explaining it nicely Meggles, instead of telling me to take a seat because I’m American and don’t understand. 🙂
Thomas’ has a branch right in Kensington, so this makes even less sense. These two really are something.
I give this arrangement a month, tops.
I lived 10 minutes away from my school, but had to get on the bus at 6:30 for my hour long ride. It’s pretty normal for it to take a while to get there,and probably isn’t as boring for the kids anymore with all the electronics they can play with
I still like the theory that at this school Kate doesn’t have to face the aristocracy that has rejected her and treated her badly when she was Waity Katey. Now their kids don’t get to be friends with hers and she’ll be Queen (Duchess) Bee at this school, not Kate Middleton. She still doesn’t seem to fit in to those circles. Also this pairs well with their “normal” people fantasy.
I have the same theory. She won’t fit in with the other aristocrat parents. I rolled my eyes over the young professional parents reasoning. These two are not professionals. George’s commute and traffic issues are just secondary, to them. George will be fine, don’t worry about him. Londoners? Meh. That’s their attitude.
It looks like they may have won the France lawsuit, Closer to pay 100,000 Euros (if French Huffington Post is to be believed).
That’s peanuts.
Ps: when i first read Guido Fawkes’s tweet yesterday, i thought they’d won €1.5M.
They demanded €1.5M, I think that’s what he was reporting. What they wanted and what they might have gotten is the difference here. They probably wanted a large amount of money to stop others from trying to photograph them; this amount isn’t going to be much of a deterrent.
That damages award is basically saying that they need to sit down. The long distance lenses made it a breach of privacy, but this is just slightly more than a nuisance amount of damages.
I love the header picture for this one – Kate looks especially thick!
That hair, right?
I always commuted at least 1 hour to school every single day for 15 years and I’m OK. I usually slept in the car on the way home. It’s not like he’ll be taking the bus, he will be driven back and forth in a nice car with his security detail right there.
Yeah, I don’t get this. My kids’ school has parents who commute 45 minutes each day. We chose it because we love it, and so did they. 30 minutes is nothing.
The problem is that if Kate is planning to accompany George on the school run, it will take time away from her royal duties. She does little enough as it is.
My kids’ high school is a 20 minute drive-but that’s each way. Back and forth, twice a day, is almost an hour and a half out of my day. If they go all the time, you’re right-that’s going to cut into their “work.”
And also, commuting that far is hard on the child. It’s an extra two hours of being away from family, waking up unnecessarily early, getting bored and frustrated in the car, etc. If Kate plans to come along she’s going to hate it. Take it from experience!
Two hours? The article read a half-hour trip one way, which adds up to an hour total commute for the day.
Jayne, maybe one-half hour at three a.m. Is a good time. During rush hour, with a top terrorist target driven to a school with two points of ingress – bridges – it is a nightmare. Why should Londoners deal with the security of one little boy every day?
@Golden Ashley, I was just responding to what the article said and the poster said as far as time. The two hour comment by Silent Star confused me, because I read the Celebitchy article to say something different, a 30-minute commute each way.
To address the rest of your post, I’ve never said it was a good idea on this thread nor posted about my thoughts on it since I live in America and have little knowledge about this. But since you addressed your post to me, my opinion is I would stay closer in since there are great schools nearby and would cause less inconvenience.
LOL. Two hours a day in a comfortable air-conditioned car, probably with an iPad and a pile of toys… poor baby.
My commute was over and hour each way, and the bus was freezing in the winter and hot as hell at the beginning and the end of the school year. Used to fall asleep listening to cassette tapes in my Walkman while riding in the uncomfortable bus
Is it right next door? no… however, a commute of 30 minutes is not nearly as bad as you think by London standards… I myself have a two hour round trip to work each day.
Honestly, this is another case of damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Is the grade system different in the U.K.? They say kindergarten and big boy school but he’s 4? Here most places don’t have all day preschool for that age, or I suppose the prep schools do- they’re probably learning Latin at 4. My son wasn’t in Kindergarten until he was 6.
In the UK “kindergarten” usually means pre-school (from age 3) or the first year of primary school. You start primary school the year you turn 5, so kids are either be 4 or 5 on their first day, depending on when in the year their birthday falls.
I realize this is different but I went to private school starting in kindergarten about a half hour away from my hometown and I was absolutely fine. And there was a very specific reason for sending me to private school (the public school system in my hometown is excellent). My father is French and my parents wanted my sister and me to be 100% bilingual and the nearest French-American bilingual school was 30 minutes away. My parents don’t regret their decision and neither do I.
I don’t see a comparison. The fee isn’t paid out of their pocket. The location was picked for creative reasons. Said more as free spirit than what some would call academically leaning. And at his age that’s great, but needed? That can be supplemented at home.
If the commute wasn’t used as an excuse to keep kate from duties. If it was paid out of their pockets. If it wasn’t already a logistic commuting nightmare it would be different.
It’s that it’s foolish and frankly dangerously unnecessary.
In case nobody asked it before: Do they get kickbacks from the school. Read “Range Rovers” .
We had to walk a mile to school, and got an orange for Christmas!
Truth be told, this arrangement won’t last. They probably just want their kid in this school and think 30 mins is fine. But I’m sorry, that poor boy is going to be a hot mess. Commuting sucks for adults, let alone a child!
Sorry – but all the Americans commenting on how this is not a big deal need to take a seat. I live approx 5 mins from KP (and 2 mins from the Kensington branch of Thomas’s) and this is a massively stupid inconvenient thing for them to have done for absolutely no good reason.
It will be incredibly disruptive and the Kensington branch of Thomas’ is a brilliant school. If they didn’t like that there are at least 5 other fantastic prep schools within 10-15 mins walk of KP. Sending him to school in Battersea is seriously one of the most stupid things I have ever heard. And I’d say the same if they were “regular” parents – except no regular parent would ever contemplate this insanity as it’s just such a weird thing to do.
Hi, AmandaPanda. Haven’t seen you and FLORC here in awhile. Glad you’re both back!
Hey! Have been dipping in and out but super busy with a new baba* and work. Good to be back!
* who is down for Thomas’s Kensington and Wetherby 😜
Hey Nota!
Yea life got crazy. Got a divorce. Got my NP!!! And once I was settled I came back to you lovelies.
And now this mess is still going.
I didn’t even bother commenting on the kate pregnant post. It was just same stuff and I’ve repeated myself too much.
But this… It’s a bit much an average public commute of school bus is on par with a motorcade of tax funds.
FLORC, I’m hoping things are looking up for you. Congrats on the NP! I have lots of relatives in nursing and the NPractitioner gives so much more flexibility and better pay.
I keep saying that. It is like people who used to excuse Melania. A half a million dollars a day so he could stay in school. How is that ok?
I know London so I know what you mean. People keep talking about the time but it is about far more than time.
When it cost half a million a day (or even more then 10,000 added cost to go to Battersea over KP Thomas) to take George to school and back please call me out by name but I highly doubt that is the case.
As AmandaPanda says and also Meggles further up, clearly some people have no clue about London and traffic there. I am not British either, but have lived and worked in London in the past, and I also know US cities like NYC and LA (as a driver) and you just cannot compare these places. Yes, there is truckloads of traffic there, too, but the stress level of getting stuck in traffic in a big US city is low compared to what goes on in the streets of London. It is an ancient city with small streets and bottleneck bridges, its whole layout was not made for today’s world.
Regardless of the reasons for this decision and what one might think about it, it is a fact that this boy’s shuttle service in all likelihood will further disrupt what is already crazy traffic in jam packed parts of the city.
I think some people should go visit London and do daily rush hour commutes and then we can have this conversation again.
Leeeeeeeechessssssss
Actually this can workout. I lived in fullham broadway and worked in Kensington for 2 year so my regular commute. Most likely they’ll take the North end road then Wandsworth bridge to Battersea. The traffic is horrendous on rush hours but the G is going on the opposite direction on rush hours. In the morning traffic goes into Kensington but not so much going out and vice versa afternoon. I guess it’s risky because the route is quite predictable. Or they are going to use helicopter, there a helipad close to crown plaza hotel, just a few minutes form the school.
The traffic is horrendous both ways during peak times (and school drop-off and pick-up are squarely in the middle of peak times). Wandsworth bridge is out of the way, too (I did forget about Battersea bridge, so there are three bridges they might take – although Albert Bridge is still a security nightmare). I think you’re on to something with the helicopter though. Which is utterly absurd.
As absurd as it seems, i’m thinking that they will use the heliport as well.
Of course, they will. At first, they will use a car and make it so terrible for others that they will get a pass for the heliport.
Honestly, a daily helicopter trip for school would be 1) ludicrous and 2) an obvious target. Some poor set of RPOs would still have to battle traffic to get to the hotel, in order to drive him from the hotel to the school.
I read somewhere that George would just be travelling as a normal person to and fro the school so no traffic disruption.
Kate does minimal royal duties anyway and it doesn’t look as if this is going to change. I should think all the kids will go to this school eventually.
Probably lots more convenient schools but if they want to send the kids to this school why is everyone getting in a tizz about it? I live in quite a remote part of the country and sometimes primary kids do have to go a distance if they live in the country.
Surprised she is keen to send the little precious so far from home, unless they are breaking him in for boarding.
How it was sold early on was kate chose the school and she would be with George for his drop off and pick up commute. Meaning she would not work. It’s another example of excusing a poor work ethic. If there’s no staff. Or minimal staff. And she’s running the household while tending to 2 children with a 3rd on the way all these defending comparisons would make sense. Instead she has loads of help. You can’t compare her situstion with anyone from here.apples and oranges. Yet they try.
What with MM declaring her love for PH on front page of DM today in a 7,700 pounds tulle dress its become as paper states a soap opera for our BRF… since the Middashians joined its become exactly that and now they choose a school for PG.. which needs a lot of extra security its a damn disgrace but they dont care how much it is as us taxpayers pay for it all
We all think this is a disgrace. ..
But why not wait and see before condemning. The Press will be on the case from tomorrow (which won’t be typical – give the poor kid a few weeks for the routines to be established).
I’m sure the Daily Fail will be happy to reflect your views if there are problems.
Thomas’s sounds like a school that parents would be happy to have their child attend, “Be Kind” as a motto couldn’t be more needed in today’s social media world.
They’re so very tone-deaf. Sending their kids to a local state school, in an area that means almost all the kids are extremely privileged there anyway (as has been said, the small Camerons attended) would be such amazing PR. Failing which, sending them to an ultra-posh local pre-prep would tie in with the smocked frocks and knee shorts and shiny Startrite shoes.
This is just… a mess. Inconvenient for the poor little chap, a mess in terms of protection, and for what? It’s a great school, but they have a branch nearby. And if the belief is that the paps won’t haunt that little boy if they send him across the river, I fear they are mistaken. If the argument is social mix… they are right back to sending him to an actual local state school.
Would parents in a state school be comfortable around William and Kate? I know I wouldn’t be. Even when William went to St. Andrew’s university, the people roundabout him in Halls the first year were all apparently public school.
As for startrite shoes we had to buy these for our daughter who had a narrow foot so not only for middle/upper class.
It certainly is a hard time for her, being cared for at home in a palace with the highest standard of care, a full time top of the line nanny to care for her young daughter, a sensitive husband without a 9 to 5 job available to take their son to his delightful and expensive school, a caring mother at hand, staff to cater to her every whim.
I read somewhere at the weekend that Kate mentioned before her marriage she wanted to be the same as the late Queen Mother – loved but spoilt.
It is such an odd comment, I think it could be true that she did say this.