Today is Princess Charlotte’s first day of big-kid school. Charlotte is enrolled at Thomas’s Battersea in South London, the same co-ed school as her big brother Prince George. It was said that the Duchess of Cambridge insisted on sending George to a co-ed school so his sister would eventually join him at the same school, and I would assume that Prince Louis will eventually attend Thomas’s Battersea as well.
For George’s first day of big-kid school in 2017, Kate was pregnant and terribly sick and unable to take him to school, so Prince William did the drop-off photo-op solo with George. Today, however, Kate was front and center for her little girl’s first day. Kate wore a £215 Michael Kors dress and what looked like a fresh blowout and a lighter hair than usual. George and Charlotte wore their school uniforms and they made their parents carry their bookbags.
The kids are super-cute, obviously. George is wearing his royal pokerface, like he’s not going to show what he’s really feeling at the moment. But I bet he’ll be fine once he sees all his school friends. Also: Um, George is giving me major Joe Alwyn vibes all of a sudden, which is epic. Charlotte looks like her ponytail is already bugging her and I bet that pony won’t make it one full hour in school. Anyway… good luck to George and Charlotte. I hope they make lots of new friends and enjoy their classes!
Photos courtesy of Getty, Instagram.
Charlotte kills me with her combo of shyness and enthusiasm. She is a cutie!
George looks like all the kids that are like “oh, school again?”
William looks like he always does, and Kate looks fantastic. Love the hair and the dress! It is the same one she wore to H&M’s rehearsal dinner in Windsor.
Princess Charlotte is so adorable!
They do have adorable kids!
I like how the woman greeting them didn’t curtsey and shook the children’s hands first.
George looks so much like Queen Elizabeth’s father in the picture just beneath the “Sun” video.
Even as a baby he looked a lot like Elizabeth’s grandfather, young George V (plus his cousin Csar Nicky, who he was borderline identical to).
Kate’s hair looks REALLY good – a bit shorter, bright and fresh looking, bouncy, no huge sausage curls – I don’t know if she got a new hair stylist or what, but this is a great look for her.
I even like the dress! Overall she looks great. William looks like William.
I thought the same thing. This is the best I’ve ever seen her hair look.
I agree Becks, I think she looks really good here. I am beginning to think that maybe I’m not digging her outfits because she has no curves. But can’t fault the gene pool. I would have loved to see her in pants and a nice top or sweater. (I’m ready for fall)
The kids are adorable. They look great.
Her hair is the best I’ve seen it in a long time.
Agree with all! Cathy’s hair really looks great.
Yes she looks really nice here. Normal Bill needs to shave his head properly. Do like my male cop friends do and rock the shaved head or super short buzz with confidence. This fuzzy half bald monk look is doing him any favours.
Really like the blow out; looks more mature & natural than those stupid sausage curls. Not sure about the color; looks very brassy.
Agreed. The blowout looks fantastic, the color not so much. Brassy indeed.
Kate not only looks amazing, she looks comfortable and happy.
Kate’s hair, or I should say Kate’s Hair. Kate’s Hair should have its own fan club. I have serious hair inferiority whenever I see her hair. *slinks off in a huff to try to do something with mess on head before work*
Hairstyle is beautiful but color doesn’t suit at all. It’s very brassy and clashes with her complexion.
I agree it looks a bit brassy but changing up a bit is fun to see.
It’s brassy cause she’s so obviously does not have a warm undertone.
A colder undertone in her highlighting or overall colour would make her really pop.
And she should go shorter, she has the bone structure for that.
This is so precious.
Agree. She’s found a nice style that isn’t twee but looks professional but casual.
Those kids are so precious…shame about the family though. John Oliver was right, the Windsors are an emotional mess.
I hope they have as normal of a childhood as anyone in their position could
For some strange reason Kate reminds me of Karen Carpenter.
Malnourished brunette
Could people please refrain from making comments about her appearance? That’s body shaming 101.
Raluca, this site is nothing but complaining about women who are naturally thin, done by woman who are unnaturally large.
Ew, that’s a nasty comment.
pipergates – yes, Kate is naturally slim as is her mum and sister. However, it is pretty obvious that she lost a significant amount of weight around the time of her engagement and diets/exercises to maintain the new, not so natural figure.
Yep, she’s too thin and not because she’s naturally that way. Just too thin. Fuss away!
Umm Pipergates I don’t have a problem with thin women but fat shaming commenters is annoying.
Are you going to expand on the “strange reason” why because otherwise this reads like a slyly worded innuendo.
Karen was a wonderful talent and suffered greatly in her short life. Do not trivialize her.
Kate’s hair looks like she had a blowout and highlights. The press was arranged for this stroll so she had to be camera ready.
It now makes sense why William sic lawyers on the press regarding the Rose rumors. The Cambridges’ hook is the perfect English family that will one day end the monarchy. A cheating scandal takes a wrecking ball to that image.
@aquarius64 Do you mean deliberately end the monarchy? That’s never occurred to me before, that it’s part of Will’s plan to be the last king.
Sorry meant lead the monarchy.
aquarius, there were cameras for George’s first day too. Of course it is arranged, as a basic quid pro quo – you get a photo of them on the first day, then you don’t harass and stalk them for the rest of their school year.
Kate’s hair looks phenomenal. Much better styling than usual. I like the whole look actually. This is the best she’s ever looked in my view. The photos are lovely, but I first saw this on Sky News earlier and she looked incredible in motion too. When she looks blah she looks very blah, so here’s hoping she sticks with this look for the foreseeable future.
+1, I just saw the video and she looks great in motion.
This is absolutely the best I’ve ever seen her look.
She looks beautiful here. I wish she would have worn some chic flats (like a pointy toe slingback flat), but other than that, she looks fab.
I actually thought they were flats in the first photo I saw. For a daytime look, I agree, but I do think the whole outfit is fab.
That little cutie! She’s adorable and I love her. She did look a little nervous with the ponytail fiddling. George looks like a pro.
Kate looks fantastic, I love her hair like that and I generally like Michael Kors designs for work.
Hahaha, George DOES look like Alwyn. Kate looks professional and Charlotte is too cute.
George just looks so much like James Middleton.
Those kids are too stinking cute! Kate looks fabulous. I doubt William is solely focused on George.
That ponytail is not going to make it.
Cathy Cambridge’s hair color is too brassy for her. That’s all I’ve got. Lovely children. Horrible parents.
Its not too bad but once her tan starts fading then yeah it’ll look bad but then’ll she’ll darken it.
I wonder if they went to the posh gym afterwards with all the other yummy mummies!!
@ Valiantly varnished How are they horrible parents? Maybe you dont like things you think they do but they dont appear to be horrible parents. Do you know something the rest of us dont about their parenting
@LindaS please go back and re-read what I wrote. Because you completely misinterpreted it.
@LindaS – she means horrible as in people, not that they were horrible at parenting.
I think Kate really looks nice today. But I wish there could be one occasion where her mouth isn’t open so wide. It always looks like a tunnel!
It seems to me like you’re trying to police the way she smiles
Give me a break! Lol
I agree. Her mouth is frequently gaping. This is a fact, whether one likes it or not.
Eight years of pictures would in fact prove she often has her mouth wide open when the others around her do not. Let’s stop using the term policing for one of the most privileged white women on the planet. She’s as elite as they come.
Its done to project the image of interacting with others for photographs, not sure who told her that its a good thing to do but its not. You don’t see other public figures gurning like this.
This is the best Kate has ever looked.
Agreed! She looks great 🙂
Kate looks wonderful, it’s a perfect look for the occasion. There’s a closeup of Charlotte looking sideways at the camera and you can see that she is going to be beautiful when she grows up, and photogenic. George looks like a really, really nice little boy.
I dunno, I think her hair looks quite dated (which I didn’t think was possible, but Kate finds a way I suppose). That color is awful… wonder if she’ll be going full blond eventually. The prairie dress isn’t a good look either.
The waves and layers around the face give off a very 1970s vibe.
The lightening of the color probably has to do with more grays to hide. She is beginning to show some grays here and there, they are obvious when she’s pregnant. Highlights are good for that rather than just one process because the grays can blend in a little easier with the lighter hair. No shame in that game.
Different strokes for different folks as they say. I love her hair and I really like the dress.
I have this dress.
Everytime i wear it someone stops me to ask where I got it.
I love the dress!
I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t buy it last summer. Kors has a few other in the same style but I don’t like the patterns as much.
Everyone looks happy. one thing i will say that I get a bit annoyed when people say things like “oh the blowout looks so professional and mature compared to the curls”, I’ve seen that written in alot of comments here and in various other spots.
Can we stop with equating straight hair with professionalism, maturity and class? It’s a pet peeve of mine as someone with naturally textured curls.
While I agree with you, I believe people are referring to her over done, sausage curls, not natural curls or even textured hair.
fair enough, it’s not so much about Kate specifically but the implication in those kinds of sentences, you know?
Her hair looks good I like it on her… calling a pregnancy announcement soon. She always changes up her hair when she’s pregnant. Meghan has an engagement next week so the Cambridges might fancy a bit of Thunder Stealing…!
I actually had this same thought lol.
She puked her brains out and looked green for the first trimester of all her previous pregnancies. She may have gotten lucky on the fourth go around, but I vote no way she’d be up walking around this fresh and happy.
@molly – we’re saying that because Kate changes her hair before announcing a pregnancy. My guess is that its before her HG kicks in – but I distinctly remember with George she got bangs and I thought “she’s pregnant and is afraid people will notice” (then they had to announce early anyway bc of the HG.)
At first I use to see Michael in their faces, now all I see is Elizabeth.
Cute pictures. Time is flying by, how fast is C ready for school. I like W&K&their kids. They do seem to have a much better relationship vs. Charles childhood basically raised by nannies.
The entire world is upside down these days, these pics show a bit of calm, I am OK with that.
Charlotte looks great on her first day of big kid school. Agreed that ponytail is not going to make it. LOL. Hope she has fun and gets dirty like any self respecting kiddo her age.
I think they look like an adorable, happy family. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors, but the kids seem comfortable and close with their parents. Not like some celebs’ or royals’ kids who look like they don’t spend much time with their parents.
I can’t imagine dealing with the level of scrutiny and photographers they have to deal with all the time. It obviously has its perks, but it just seems like a lot of pressure to grow up with!
Mmm. I think I’m the only one who doesn’t like Kate’s hair. I feel like it ages her somehow, I don’t know. I’m sure she’s happy to drop off her kids though, since she couldn’t do it with George.
OMG that has to be SO WEIRD to do normal things with a row of photogs just quietly taking your photo. I would be a total mess!!
Does she plan on getting back to work anytime soon or is she still on her extended maternity leave? Perhaps she can count this as an engagement in the Court Circular to help her EOY numbers.
I feel pretty confident this gets counted as a work engagement for them. But, I could be wrong.
Looking at George and Charlotte together, I can’t help but think about how William and Harry were close once, right? Like, how would William feel about George treating Charlotte (or Louis) the way he has treated Harry? Just totally throwing a sibling under every bus they can find.
How do you know that even happened? And you could turn it around and say the same thing about Harry if you want to believe all tabloid reports. How will Harry feel looking at his future children knowing he once screamed at his brother and sister in law? How will he feel when he realized he allowed someone to come into the family and destroy their strong bond?
Allowed someone? She’s his wife. Should he not have married his wife because his brother and sister have a problem with her? It’s pretty obvious he is very happy with his life.
So, Kate and Williams now have two of their three kids in school, so what will they be doing with all this additional free time. Obviously, not working….
These pics look eerie to me, like a contrived movie setting, With a very curious emptiness to it. Look at it again. There is no hint of trash, not so much as a gum wrapper or cigarette stub. Hedges are coiffed. Not a corner of peeled paint, not a piece of dirt out of place nor a puddle or a weed. What magic street sweeper cleaned this stretch – it is spotless. I’ve only seen this level of spic and span at Disney. I also see no hint of diversity, it’s not even remotely similar to the world I know and I find it scary. Children in my world never looked like this. This is like cosplay for empty elites. Or is this some staged picture for the Town & Country magazine?
These are taken on the courtyard of a fairly elite, expensive school. Why would you expect it to be littered with rubbish and cigarette butts?
The school is very diverse – perhaps you should check your opinions of who is allowed to have money.
Check my opinions of who is allowed to have money?? I am happy to hear you say that this school is very diverse, I am pointing out this picture and its contrived setting. Now that I think about it, most pictures of the the Cambridges have no diversity, The polo ground pictures? Turnip Toff fundraiser pictures? Watching Zara at the horse competition pictures?
Wait, you didn’t think was some sort of spontaneous photo taken by an onlooker, did you?
It was arranged ahead of time. That’s why there are no other children around.