Why are Prince William & Kate choosing to send their kids to Lambrook?

Something I find incredibly interesting about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge: Kate has gotten “her way” about the children’s education so far. Maybe that won’t always be the case, especially as Prince George gets older and there will be a heavy expectation that he be sent off to Eton. But for now, Kate has gotten her way. Her way is only-coeducational schools and never any schools which are pipelines for aristocrats’ kids. Kate prefers to send her kids to posh schools for new-money families, where the children of lawyers, hedge-funders and businessmen might go. Reportedly, for the new school year, George, Louis and Charlotte will attend the co-ed school Lambrook, which is “fifteen minutes away” from Adelaide Cottage, the Cambridges’ “new home” on the Windsor royal estate. The Telegraph had a fascinating look at Lambrook and why the Cambridges chose that school. Some highlights:

Prince George won’t board: It’s off to prep school for Prince George this September but happily without a tuck box, teddy bear and tearful goodbye. If whispers are to be believed, the third in line to the throne, who turned nine this July, will become a day pupil at Lambrook School in Berkshire, along with his sister, Princess Charlotte, seven, and brother, Prince Louis, four.

Lambrook is nurturing: It offers a modern, cosy and nurturing take on the quintessential prep school experience. “There’s no comparing it to the hot house our daughter attended in London – there’s acres of space and no pushiness,” says one. “The lessons are fun and there’s a tight, all-inclusive community. I defy any child not to love it.” At Lambrook, where termly fees are currently £4,389 from reception and £6,448 from year 3, they’ll have to go to school on Saturdays – the weekend! – and there’s no ski chalet; Thomas’s has one in Austria, which they’d have got to use if only they’d been allowed to stay on to the senior school. And anyway, why Lambrook rather than Ludgrove, their father’s alma mater, or St Andrew’s in Pangbourne, where their mother was a pupil?

Will & Kate’s school runs: Ludgrove is likely to have been ruled out as it only takes boys and the Cambridges, who strive to do school runs every day despite their hectic schedules, will find it far easier to have all their children at one school. St Andrew’s, meanwhile, 35 minutes away, is too far: having navigated the school run from Kensington to Battersea on a daily basis for the past few years, the Cambridges will want the next school to be as close as possible.

Lambrook isn’t the poshest choice: Among Berkshire’s circle of prep schools, which also includes Cheam and Elstree, Lambrook is regarded as “very respectable yet not one of the posh ones” – rather similar then to Thomas’s Battersea, which was considered an off-piste choice for the Cambridges who, friends assumed, would send George straight to Wetherby in Kensington, the all boys day school Prince William himself attended before Ludgrove.

Wealthy families only: Like Thomas’s, Lambrook has a few aristos on its books but its bread and butter is driven, affluent families who want their children to have a happy, free-range childhood, while ultimately scoring places at top public schools. A bus load of pupils arrives from London each day but most families live locally – which is financially no mean feat, given that a nondescript-looking five-bedroom house a mile from the school, with just over 2.5 acres, is currently for sale for £3.5 million.

Blue-chip parents: “Everything at Lambrook is freshly painted; it’s very blue chip parent wise and the children are all very polite,” explains one parent who opted instead for a more rough around the edges prep school. “On our open day tour the children all made personalised Lambrook key rings in the DT centre, and were sent home with Lambrook wooden yo-yos in a Lambrook reusable jute bag – I dread to think how much it cost them. We went back there a few weeks ago, as our son was playing in a cricket match and again I couldn’t believe how polished and manicured it is. I have to say that the match tea looked good but the cakes tasted of nothing.”

Optional boarding: Meanwhile, Louis will have rows of welly boots outside his reception classroom ready for “Forest Fridays”, when the younger children head deep into the grounds for den building and marshmallows by the fire. From the age of seven, boarding during the week is an option, either for a night every so often or, for £1,481 extra per term, five nights every week. “Even the most local parents like the idea of their smalls being able to stay over for a night when necessary – it means they can throw dinner parties and have hangovers without having to get the kids to school the next day,” says a source. For this reason, Friday night is most popular for boarding – parents can turn up well-rested after lessons on Saturday to watch matches, plays and recitals without it affecting their working week or their social life.

[From The Telegraph]

From the outside looking in, it strikes me as pretty bold for Kate to insist on co-educational schools and no boarding. I’m sure Kate and William have felt a lot of pressure from “the establishment” to send George to boys-only boarding schools, the prep schools which are seen as pipelines for all of Britain’s future leaders of politics and industry. It’s likely Kate insists on George and Charlotte attending the same school for as long as possible simply because it makes the logistics easier, but I also think they probably want George to enjoy co-education for as long as possible before he eventually goes to Eton. I continue to find it fascinating that the Cambridge kids are sent to regular wealthy-family schools, schools for the children of nouveau riche families. Why does Kate keep winning these battles? Is it because William genuinely agrees with her, or does William simply not care?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid, KensingtonRoyal social media.

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233 Responses to “Why are Prince William & Kate choosing to send their kids to Lambrook?”

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  1. C says:

    I’m kind of wondering if she doesn’t want her kids hanging out with the kids of the posh set that froze her out.

    • Tessa says:

      Carole probably wants her royal grandchildren to marry other totals from other countries or aristo

    • swirlmamad says:

      I’m thinking this might be the winning answer.

    • R says:

      Oooh. Good point.

    • Qita says:

      She’s only human. It’s not fun to have your kids at a school if you don’t like the other parents there. I think your idea makes sense

    • DouchesOfCambridge says:

      Why look for the answer when it’s right there: Lambrook is just the best closest school from adelaide for the LazyCambridges. They want there kids in the same school and really, separating boys and girls for school is… i dont get it. I agreee with their decision, dont split the kids.
      They will make this decision seem like it’s the most modern take for a future king. Boys and girls are equal! They can study together! Early years! Bla bla bla
      (And should burgerking have a wandering eye, it’ll probably be with a paesanty mom and not some aristocratic one that has a better pedigree than katiekeen)

      • Andie says:

        Also remember how many comments were made about Diana wanting to bring a regular childhood to her sons, Disneyland trips and all of that? I think Kate’s shooting for similar: modern, regular mom providing a modern, regular (but still very privileged) childhood for her children. Whose family believe they ascend to gods when they are touched by oil during a ceremony. Anyway.

      • Lionel says:

        Agree, from the description it sounds like a reasonable choice of school. And why are we assuming that the choice is all Kate’s, weren’t William and Harry famously unhappy at Eton? Maybe moreso Harry, but I remember reports that both were bullied a bit there, bullying being ingrained in the culture of the school. Makes sense that William would want to move away from that too.

    • Bisynaptic says:

      Bingo.

    • The Recluse says:

      I suspect Kate isn’t going the Boarding school route because she means to micromanage the kids. How ‘hands on’ can she be if they’re in boarding school, right?
      Also, the kids are being set up to be close with people with $$$$$$. That’s one form of insurance, right?

      • Christine says:

        I agree, she can see how distant her husband is with his father and could/can see the gaping chasm in the relationships Philip and Betty had/have with all of their children. Her only power play in the future is her kids wanting her around because they are close to her. Sending them off to board at this age is not in her best interest.

  2. Snuffles says:

    Maybe Kate doesn’t want to have to interact with the aristocratic parents who have clearly rejected her.

    • C says:

      I think this too.

    • Nikki (Toronto) says:

      Good point!

      It also changes who George and the kids befriend and will feel comfortable around. He may not be as stuck up as his father as a result. Perhaps new money will be more welcoming into the Aristo circles, making Kate’s family more powerful after Charles passes.

      • Lexistential says:

        Or, these families will automatically be deferential to both her and her children. Kate likes dynamics where her status is recognized (and she’s catered to). Nouveau riche circles will most likely be “OMG, we get to meet Kate” versus aristo *Snicker* “There’s Duchess Pegging.”

      • Kazzzzz says:

        I can’t hate this decision.
        Bet the BM won’t be screaming protocol on this one. If it was Meg and Harry on the other hand…

    • Becks1 says:

      I think its this and something else I’m turning over in my mind is that I wonder if this way Kate avoids any aristos that William may have potentially slept with. Like if she’s trying to avoid schools where rose hanbury will send her kids (I’m just throwing that name out there bc she’s the one we know of, but I’m assuming there were/are others.)

      • swirlmamad says:

        Good point. The last thing she needs is one of her kids coming home and exclaiming how they made a new friend….which happens to be the child of the lady Daddy fooled around with on the side. Messy messy messy.

      • Elizabeth says:

        Guess by this logic Harry and Megan can never go to Vegas then!

      • Snuffles says:

        Oof. Will be like “Shagged her. Shagged her too. Got pegged by her…and her…had a 3 way with those two.”

      • Harper says:

        Absolutely that Kate does not want her children being told by their classmates that their mom isn’t a real toff. Honestly, I don’t blame her, but it does indicate that she threw in the towel about ever being accepted. I actually don’t think it is what Kate and CarolE wanted when they were scheming to snare Burger King but it is a pivot to ensure that in her separation life, Kate feels at home and is still a Queen Bee somewhere. Also, Pippa and her kids can be at Lambrook too, so Kate has an instant built-in clique.

      • Becks1 says:

        @Harper ooh that’s a good point, that if we’re considering this as her separation set up, then she might not feel comfortable at a super aristo school if its just her.

      • Snuffles says:

        @elizabeth

        Harry shagging people long before he even met Meghan is not the same as William shagging every aristocrat under the sun during his courtship AND marriage to Kate.

      • C says:

        LOL @ Elizabeth. You tried at least.

      • Sunday says:

        That’s possible, but the reverse could also be true – maybe William wanted a non-aristo school because he’s bored with all the aristo mums and wants a new dating pool…

      • Aiglentine says:

        @elizabeth What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

    • MakeEverydayCount says:

      Agreed. Kate’s afraid her children will be rejected. Both Kate and William attended Boarding Schools and it is said Kate had a miserable experience. Maybe she is trying to protect them from the rejection she knows will be coming their way. How sad for those children. Trapped from birth.

    • MeganC says:

      The insistence on co-educational schools suggest one or both didn’t like being in gender segregated schools growing up.

      • Becks1 says:

        did Kate go single-sex? Marlborough is co-ed. that’s why I think there is such insistence on co-ed schools, because that’s how Kate grew up.

      • Chisey says:

        The Tina Brown book says Kate went to an all girls school for a short time, was bullied, and soon transferred to a co-Ed school

      • Becks1 says:

        Also, did no one else on here go to a single-sex school? it’s pretty normal where I live. There is one school that is expensive and co-ed and all the other uber posh schools are single-sex. I went to an all girls HS (not posh, lol!) and had a great experience and my brothers also went single sex (although not to a toxic aristocratic expensive British school, which may be the difference?) I’m just surprised at all the anti-single-sex education comments on here.

      • Concern Fae says:

        @becks. I went to a women’s college and loved it. Single sex can be great, but when it’s toxic, things get very, very bad.

      • Guest says:

        @Becks1 I grew up in Maryland where single sex education is pretty common at the middle and high school level in the independent schools. My brother went to an all boys school, I went to and all girls school, and we both really enjoyed our school experiences.

      • booboocita says:

        I went to a single-sex Catholic girls’ school for my elementary education. I loved every minute of it, and made some friendships that are still close — and I’m close to my 60s. The nuns were pretty good at slapping down mean girls, though.

      • Becks1 says:

        @Guest – I am from Maryland as well! I loved going to an all girls school. I was asking bc so many of the comments are like “oh thank goodness it’s not a single sex school” and I’m like but it’s not a bad thing!!

        (I’m not talking about the toxic rich atmosphere at a place like Eton. Just as a general idea.)

    • one of the marys says:

      That makes sense to me. Why indoctrinate your kids into a social set that won’t accept you, that looks down on you and has made it clear you’ll never belong? Screw them i’d be looking for another option too.

    • goofpuff says:

      It’s because in the aristo set, she can never rule it. She can be top dog in the new money set, but not the old money set.

  3. Tessa says:

    Lol at their hectic schedules referenced in the article

    • MakeEverydayCount says:

      Kate’s schedule: Breakfast, Children to school, work out, work out again, shop, shop some more, pick up children from school, work out, work out again, dinner, shop, bed…..rinse and repeat.

      • Dilettante says:

        Lets not forget spa, Harley St dermatologist, spa, etc…

      • Christine says:

        Definitely don’t forget that Willnot brings her a G&T every night after they have the kids successfully in bed. Cambridges, they’re just like us!

  4. L84Tea says:

    I find it interesting that Kate prefers to send her kids to a new-money nouveau riche school instead of where the aristo kids go. I wonder if Kate has officially thrown in the towel with trying to keep up with the aristos at last? Kate will always be a small fish in the big aristo pond, but among new money mummies, Kate is the big fish. And let’s face it, the Middleton’s are as new money and nouveau riche as they come, including Kate. A duchess title and a sash won’t change that about her. Just my theory.

    • Miss Nesbitt says:

      In addition to avoiding aristos, choosing a new money school avoids the mega-wealthy from all over the world who send their kids to school with the aristo class—Saudi princes, Russian oligarchs, and pretty much anyone who could’ve given Prince Charles a suitcase full of cash.

      • L84Tea says:

        Ah, very true!

      • HeatherC says:

        William may regret this decision then. How can he be like Dad and accept shopping bags full of money but a whole lot less obvious than dad by doing it during parent teacher conferences? LOL

      • KFG says:

        She’s avoiding the mega-rich and toff parents who view her as trashy. Also with the rumors about POP and his wandering scepter, what if he is the father to other kids, like Philip. Also, George, Charlotte, and Louis won’t be the top dogs at an aristo school. They’ll be the poorer royals in comparison to the Saudis and the ones whose mother was a social climbing stalker. I also wonder if she’s hoping to get a new rich bf for herself. These are her people.

    • Gah says:

      My thoughts exactly. She can be the most important person at the nouveau schools. At the aristo ones she’s just the put upon wife of the wandering sceptre

    • L4Frimaire says:

      These schools are driven by fundraising, connections and who the parents are. These schools are probably like living in hives based on who you know and your lineage. She’ll be the biggest fish here and not constantly reminded that other families can be traced back to 1066 and have the comfort of class and titles. The remarks about the school being too polished harken back to the Tatler article where Anmer was described as looking like a hotel, as a way to show shade at the Middletons for their gauche taste. Anyway, one’s child’s education is a very big decision and the curriculum and what secondary schools/universities it feeds into is what matters most and where they will feel most comfortable. Maybe the aristo schools are out because the Cambridge’s, no matter how you spin it, have had feuds with the aristo turnip toff set and are openly feuding ( one-sided) with the Sussexes. Who wants that gossip circulating, or photographers and messy Royal reporters showing up on campus.

    • Honey says:

      This reminds me of the one reporter who referred to Kate as Queen WAG when she & William were dating.

      Kate has power & prestige in these types of settings. Comfort & confidence more so. Her children will be treated that way as well. Emotional, I think, this makes sense. Through their father, they will be introduced to the aristocratic children of his friends & the one or two she has who are in that world.

      Aristocrats have old-money, if any of that is left, acres and acres upon land, and the bloodline of course. However, the monied class (business/finance, politics, technology, and the middle men & woman who sew up the deals) is really way the action and the future in the UK and abroad are at and has been since the industrial revolution, IMO. For a lot of reasons, this makes sense in building alliances and familiarity. However, her children will need to have greater exposure to the aristocratic class in order to not be treated with complete scorn. (I sometimes wonder about this & fitting in for the Sussex children.)

      • KFG says:

        If they do divorce, this school will be a good place for Kkkate and kids to be away from the gossip while giving Kkkate access to potential suitors.

      • booboocita says:

        Both Harry and Meghan have proven themselves to be networked and connected up the wazoo. I don’t think Archie and Lili have anything to worry about when it comes to making friends with the monied/tech/finance classes. If anything, their Cambridge cousins may someday come begging for introductions to the new “right people.”

  5. C-Shell says:

    Sounds nice, actually. If this is Kate’s doing, this will be the single occasion I agree with her choice. It’s also the only aspect of the Cambridge’s lifestyle that truly breaks the royal mold. I have no issue with this.

    What a strange feeling.

    • Tessa says:

      It might also have been will idea I do not see him or Kate as innovative though

      • C-Shell says:

        No, neither of them is innovative, and this could be a way for Khate to avoid the aristos at the traditional choices, but it sounds like a good experience for the kids. If they back into these decisions for other reasons, it still sounds like the kiddos are getting a better life experience out of it. 🤷‍♀️

      • Becks1 says:

        A good experience except that there’s no ski chalet and the cakes taste of nothing!!! the shade about the cakes!!! LOL.

      • swirlmamad says:

        @Becks1, that cakes line was something straight out of a Jane Austen novel. I rolled my eyes so hard I think I sprained something.

      • Jan90067 says:

        Willie could’ve gone through the Aristo Yummy Mummies already and is looking for a new group to peg, so to speak (*whistling, while looking around innocently 😄😄😄)

      • Abby says:

        @becks1 those were my favorite parts. I live so far from this kind of school being an option. I thought these quotes were so funny.

    • Elise says:

      I think it is because she wants to be the big fish in a small pond but, for whatever reason, I agree with her too.
      Words I thought would never leave my mouth.

    • Jais says:

      Yeah, having the kids not be surrounded by aristos seems like a good call.

      • Haylie says:

        Those kids are essentially aristos though. They aren’t going to be rejected unless they bring home a biracial spouse. Kate’s not worried the kids will be rejected. She’s worried (rightfully) that she will be rejected.

        More and more, it looks like Rose and the Turnip Toffs drove Kate out of Norfolk.

      • Jais says:

        Well then, technically, it’s still a good call bc children prob don’t want to be around people that would reject their mom.

    • SuzieQ says:

      Yeah, I feel the same way — and it is strange.

    • Christine says:

      I agree with you entirely, C-Shell, I am with her on this one, for the first time maybe ever?

  6. equality says:

    The big question is why move? If the children were fine with their previous school and had friends there why change schools and residences until necessary? They can’t go with the boarding school option because that would interfere with the “so-involved parents” PR they push and it would make an expectation of them “working” more.

    • Becks1 says:

      I LOLed at the bit in the article about how boarding school is nice bc then parents can be hungover without having to get the kids ready for school. Like….okay? lol.

      Anyway I agree with your question, why do they need to move schools? Wasn’t that supposedly one of the appeals of Thomas’, that they could stay there (all together) for a long time? Wonder if the insistence on switching schools is driving the push for a Windsor house. Like if someone is saying “our children MUST go here so we MUST live in Windsor!!” Or if this is about Kate and the kids being closer to her parents?

      • Tigerlily says:

        @Becks1 Yes that was odd about dinner parties/hangover. Roll my eyes. As if they (and nouveau riche parents) don’t have Nannie’s and chauffeur.

    • Nic919 says:

      That’s the hypocrisy here. Most parents don’t change schools for their young kids if they can avoid it and this move from KP to Adelaide Cottage is so unnecessary. It’s not like Kate or William have a job that requires them to do this move.

      The Thomas Battersea school could have handled all three kids with no issues until they reached the age of secondary school, which for George and Louis is likely Eton.

      So uprooting George and Charlotte right now really has been done for selfish reasons. I guess a school that can accommodate parental hangovers fits right in I suppose.

    • Blithe says:

      I think that if they’re going to move the kids, this might be a reasonable time to do it. I’m guessing that Louis would be changing schools anyway, and some students in George’s class might be shifted to boarding schools. If they’re going to make changes for three kids all at once, this might be the least disruptive time to do it — or at least it’s a time when lots of changes will be happening anyway, so it could be a reasonable time to choose the ones they want.
      Please correct me if I’m wrong about this, since I’m not familiar with the British school systems.

      • Becks1 says:

        This seems reasonable on its face except that we were told when they chose thomas’s that it would work for all three for years.

    • Sunday says:

      We’ve been speculating for months now about all the moving rumors, but maybe the need to move was precipitated by something else; like maybe either Will or Kate burnt a bridge at Thomas’ and that’s what caused all of this moving drama, because they just need to pull the kids out of that school and go somewhere else for some reason.

      • Mary says:

        @Sunday, I think you are probably right and it has more to do with the Cambridges’ relationship with the school than anything else. For example, when the impending move was first announced it was said that only George would be moving from Thomas’s and that Charlotte would remain there because she’s very well settled and has many friends. It did not say the same thing about George. The one time I saw footage of George interacting, or trying to interact, with other children it was pretty painful. Maybe George isn’t thriving at that school.

        Also, the Cambridges have more recently been taking great pains to single out George as the heir and treat him as special. Maybe this clashes with Thomas’s values of treating all of the children at the school equally and with respect and kindness.

        Or, perhaps Kate got tired of William spending time at the gym with the yummy mummies after the morning drop off!

      • Cairidh says:

        Is there any evidence they do do the morning drop off? They’re both lazy, both seem to leave parenting up to the nanny, so I find it hard to believe they go to the bother of taking the children to school every day. Kate didn’t bother to show up for George’s first day at school, they said she had HG but her behaviour the rest of the time never fit HG.

  7. littlegossipgirl says:

    I think it’s much healthier they’re going coeducational. So many of those schools can have toxic cultures that breed the “boys will be boys” mentality.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      The British all-boys boarding schools have toxic cultures, which promotes bullying. Indeed, bullying is built into the very system of these schools. That isn’t surprising when considering that these type of schools were intended to educate the elite’s boys into colonial masters.

      https://newrepublic.com/article/151232/britains-boarding-school-problem

      I think it is a very good idea to steer clear of these types of schools.

      • Harper says:

        William already demonstrated how to bully your brother out of the family business, so no need for his kids to go to school for that lesson.

    • Nicole says:

      I agree, it sounds like this maybe a bit more nurturing than the others.

    • Lizzie says:

      My siblings and I all attended co-ed schools. Interestingly our kids each chose all girl or all boy for high school – 9-12 grade after k-8 being co-ed.

  8. Becks1 says:

    “who strive to do school runs every day despite their hectic schedules, ”

    I’m dying!!! “hectic schedules” *wipes tear*

    What I find interesting is that they are shaping the other children’s education around George’s. It’s time for George to go to a potential boarding school, so they are switching Charlotte as well. (my guess is they will board George maybe after the first year there, Kate boarded herself so she’s certainly not opposed to it.)

    also, Eton was Diana’s choice, its obviously not where Charles went, so maybe William doesn’t feel that his children have to go there either, or maybe George will go there in a few years so right now he’s letting Kate “win”?

    What I do think is clear is that they are choosing schools where they can be the Big Fish, either bc Kate does not feel comfortable in mainly aristocratic circles at this point or because both W&K like their children standing out at as royal children.

    • Inky says:

      Exactly. It isn’t as though Eton is the traditional choice for Royal children. Prince Charles went to Gordonstoun and hated it, so was maybe open to Eton when Diana suggested it. Zara also went to Gordonstoun.

      I do think the speculation that Kate wants to be a big fish in a small pond is accurate. Much easier, much less aggro and much more admiration and people clamouring to be her friend.

      • L84Tea says:

        That’s what it’s all about for her, what all the hard work was for. What’s the use of being a duchess and FFQC, and wearing the most expensive clothes & wiglets, if you can’t enjoy rubbing it in peoples’ faces that you “won the prize”?

      • JaneBee says:

        Charles was expected to attend Eton (and IIRC wanted to), however Philip intervened and insisted on Gordonstoun.

    • Nic919 says:

      They did this move because of the separation and not because of George. Battersea would have handled him and the other two up to boarding school with no issues.

      Now since this move has to happen for reasons they have never explained, I do agree this is a big fish in small pond scenario that suits kate best since she likely to be the one to handle most of the school stuff.

      • Becks1 says:

        I think you’re right. this is about the move to Windsor for Kate – so now she is switching schools for the children since they’re moving to Windsor. The move happened first, the school switch as a result. (in terms of royal planning etc.) And she’s choosing a school where she will be the big fish and where she and William don’t have a lot of friends – so even if there is no divorce, it’ll be easy for her to say “oh he’s so busy with work” to the nouveau riche when the aristos will know that he doesn’t work (or that he’s on vacation with his mistress or whatever.)

  9. A says:

    I have trouble believing William doesn’t care. I think this fits squarely in how he he sees himself and how he’d want the world to see him raise his kids. And I also think it’s a positive thing to send the kids to coed schools as long as possible.

    • Lexistential says:

      Same, I think he does care, but has Kate spearhead the education plans as a marital concession (and it allows him Normal Bill PR).

    • The Hench says:

      Meh. Do I think that Wills gives a damn about education? Nope. He’s never been the brightest bulb himself so he’s not going to be an education advocate and, just as he was not allowed to fail, his children will never be allowed to fail so it just doesn’t matter where they go. It’s an easy thing to let Kate make the decisions on when she’ll be the one doing the majority of childcare whilst he is ‘working’ in London.

    • Kay says:

      Yep. While Harry gets the heat for criticizing his upbringing openly, Will regularly makes it clear he had some beef with it too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the kids go co-ed the whole way through, skipping Eton. It’s an easy way for them to get praise from the normies, which is a layer of motivation in and of itself.

  10. Ariel says:

    The aristo thing / is so exclusive, Williams old Aristo friends rejected his neuvo riche wife, which is probably a touchy subject for them – and makes his aristo affairs more stressful.
    Who knows who will want to marry the “heir” in the next generation – will’s generation was already wise to what a shitshow it would be, whether it was the archaic institution or just bad personality that drove them away.

    And who could blame them considering what the monarchy did to 19yo Diana because the woman Charles wanted wasn’t proper and virginal.

    And as for schooling – the only time I felt bad for Charles was during the crowns depiction of his boarding school chosen by Philip to toughen him up.

    The future of the monarchy is not bright.
    But pulling away from inbred aristo snobbery may be a good idea.
    Plus as snobs they just flat out won’t tolerate Kate.

    • Jean says:

      Who the hell are these so called aristocrats? Outside their neighbors nobody knows them or cares, they are absolutely nothing in the real world, It would be sad if Kate is moving house and changing schools for her kids just to be away from a bunch of pale nobodies

  11. SarahCS says:

    ‘hectic schedules’ – I needed a laugh today.

    But the point about which kids she’s getting hers to mix with is an interesting one and might (!) be one of the more intelligent things she’s done (consciously or otherwise – I also think there’s something in the comments about avoiding the aristo set who don’t like her). The aristocracy will probably never die in the UK but the country is (slowly) evolving and more and having contacts with moneyed folk in the real world will do these kids no harm rather than just going round in circles with the in-bred elites. Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s still a privileged bubble but it’s a different bubble which could be interesting for the kids and their outlooks.

  12. K8erade says:

    I’m going to disagree with Kaiser on this one, even though chances are she’s 100% right. I would be willing to place a bet on the idea that George will never go to Eton. I think Kate’s going to win out to the bitter end and never let them board anywhere. I think the kids will attend a day prepatory school in their teen years rather than a full-on boarding school. She’s very attached to her children. In all honesty, this is one I don’t mind seeing Kate win on. I actually think it’s healthy she keep them out of aristocrat schools.

    • Christine says:

      Boarding schools confuse me. I have a 9 year old. I would never feel comfortable sending her to live away from us like that. Even if it was to the most expensive school on the planet. It’s an odd practice. I hope they can keep the kids as grounded and close to home as they can while they are growing up.

      • AmelieOriginal says:

        Most boarding schools in the US are high schools so kids have to be minimum 14 years old to be enrolled. 9 is so young for boarding schools. I’ve never heard of a boarding school younger than high school in the US.

      • Fredegunda says:

        One of the British society magazines — I can’t remember which one — regularly has ads for boarding schools. Some of them take kids from age 5!!!!! Why even have kids then…

      • bettyrose says:

        @fredegunda – I’ve always thought the aristo tradition of not raising your kids was weird, but they have kids to pass down the family name/title/money. They get married for the same reason, pop out the heir & spare, and then take lovers. Isn’t Rose Hanbury’s husband openly gay? A non aristo gay man could marry his partner and live a normal life in this day and age, but an aristo needs to have the bloodline heir/spare, so he made what appears to be a very mutually agreeable arrangement with a young fertile aristo woman. I actually think it’s kinda fascinating to watch the aristos cling to their old world traditions while enjoying the privileges of the modern world. (Fascinating not enviable)

      • SuzieQ says:

        I used to be sad when my kids went back to school in the fall, because I loved having them around (I still get sad and they’re now in college). I cannot imagine shipping them off at an early age.

      • A says:

        @bettyrose, don’t even get me started on Rose Hanbury’s husband!! The man lucked out, BIG time, when his on-again/off-again fling got knocked up with twins no less. And even then, it took them until she was 7 or 8 months along to run down to the registry office to get married in time for those kids to be the official heirs. They seem to have a decent marriage for their set, all things considered, but even then, there is just SO MUCH going on with those two that makes me side-eye them so hard.

        Rose Hanbury’s mother is the best social climber. Carole could stand to take a few notes from her. She’s low-key enough to not get on anyone’s nerves, I doubt she’s running any of these girls’ marriages, and yet she was pushy and wanted to see them “married off well”, and now look where they are. The Hanbury’s are everything the Middletons wish desperately they could be. I can’t stand Kate, so I don’t even feel a little bit sorry for her on this.

    • K8erade says:

      Aren’t you of age at 16 in the UK? It just seems kids in the UK are required to grow up very fast. So by that logic, 9 sort of makes sense.

      • santan says:

        No, the age of adulthood is 18 in the UK.

        And what makes you think kids are required to grow up fast in the UK?

      • pantan says:

        No, the age of adulthood is 18 in the UK.

      • K8erade says:

        My mistake then. Culturally speaking when my kids and I visited the UK 5 years ago I saw a lot of young teens there that were already drinking and just seemed to be acting 5 years older than they were. It may not be the norm but my impression left me feeling kids grow up really fast but then again a lot of kids who live in America grow up really fast too.

    • DIANA says:

      Yeah I’m with Kate on this one. I would never send my kids away until college.

      • Becks1 says:

        Kate boarded at Marlborough though. i’m not sure why people are convinced that Kate is anti-boarding; she’s not. She may not be on board (lol, see what I did there?) with the idea for George at 9 years old, but I don’t think she’s flat out anti boarding.

      • bettyrose says:

        I thought part of the justification for the move was to be closer to Eton for when George boards? Obviously he will; that’s just how it’s done, but yeah boarding your kids at age 5 and age 14 are pretty different decisions.

    • K8erade says:

      I recall reading somewhere that Kate’s boarding school experiences weren’t great and she was bullied. That’s why I think she doesn’t want to board them. She doesn’t want to risk going through them having the same issues. As others have stated, she may wait until the kids are older and give them a chance to choose. I find it highly unlikely George is going to Eton.

    • Sunday says:

      Yea, I don’t think she’ll let them board either. It’s not because she’s against boarding in theory, I think it’s just that if they board she wouldn’t be able to hide behind hands-on mothering and the day-to-day childcare anymore. Sending them to day school instead allows her to continue to use school runs and packed lunches as an excuse for not working more, plus it’s consistent with the “we’re just a normal family” trad-wife brand she’s created for herself.

      • K8erade says:

        This is part of my thought process as well. Another part is that I don’t think she cared for her experiences at boarding school. Another part I think that if she’s “broody” for more babies as is reported and William doesn’t want more, she may hold on to what she has even tighter. But at the end of the day I think boarding them means more work and she certainly doesn’t want that.

      • Becks1 says:

        oooh you may have hit the nail on the head…..keeping them as day students leaves her with her built in excuse to not work…school run!

    • Bromptonviewer says:

      She did board though and even though her first school wasn’t a good fit she was reportedly very happy at Marlborough and the few close friends it seems she has are from her Marlborough days. I think all 3 will board at co-ed Marlborough. I went to boarding school myself in the US and people are soooo confused that I’d ever board my children because I’m a very hands on mum (in the way Kate is. I still have staff like every other Kensington and Chelsea mum but I gave up my finance career and spend a ton of time with them). My boarding years were some of my happiest and strengthened my relationship with my parents. I’d call them every day and we never had any of the typical teen arguments about clean your room, do your homework, X’s parents aren’t as strict etc. I wouldn’t want to deprive my children of such a positive life shaping experience. I think boarding at 8/9 is insane but 13/14 totally. I’ll be sad not to have them home but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for all I think they’ll gain.

  13. Heather says:

    Maybe this is a ‘keeping Kate on side’ compromise. She’ll stay if she gets to choose the schooling for the children? Although now that I type this, I realize Kate will always stay on side because 👑 goals. I feel badly for her if all the Will cheating rumors are to be believed. Nobody deserves that.

  14. JMoney says:

    I think part of it is that aristos don’t accept her but a big reason she’s sending her kids to nouveau riche schools is Kate herself went to one. Kate is molding her children in the Middleton fashion b/c I do genuinely believe she thinks her upbringing and family are better than most aristos she’s met. Kate and her fam dress and speak more “posh” than most posh ppl do.

    When Kate and Will broke up and got back together, Carole made an agreement with William on how the (future) children would be raised. What we’re seeing is the fruits of that come to pass. Ppl are baffled as to why Billy would allegedly still go on holiday with the Middletons and allow his children to live so close to the Middletons and have them heavily involved in the kids lives and its b/c Billy does like The MIddletons. Does he like them 100% of the time? No. However that family puts his needs first always above his wife even before they were married so this is him holding up his end of the bargain in part b/c its good PR and makes them seem more “common” having Kate’s fam involved given the Senior Royals (sans Diana) were seldom involved in their children’s lives. If the PR was bad this would not be happening.

    • Chisey says:

      This makes sense to me. The Windsors as a family are incredibly messed up, so was Diana’s family, and I’m willing to believe that many other aristocratic families are similar. The Middletons are ambitious, sure, but they also seem tight knit and to have one another’s backs. Kate seems very close to her family so I’m not surprised she’d want to raise her kids the way she was raised,

    • San Diego says:

      @JMONEY, I agree with you. I genuinely believe William sees the Middletons more his family than the Windsor side. Regardless of the state of his marriage to Kate, he has always provided, protected her from negative press ( even when it’s self inflicted) and makes sure Kate gets her way. He kept his children away from his father and brother. The only Windsor family members the kids seem to interact with are Zara and Mikes kids. I really do think the children will benefit from being raised by the Middletons. They really do seem to be a close knit family and support each other.

      • Blujfly says:

        The Middletons’ style of parenting has produced 3 children with the best educations money can buy with no work ethic and without careers, all of whom rely on their spouse’s wealth to live. Certainly not what I want for my children.

      • equality says:

        Support each other? Wasn’t Pippa told she couldn’t pursue certain lines because of Kate and William?

      • San Diego says:

        @ BLUJFLY that is what they put value on. Put your children in places to integrate into the upper class and marry well. Even if the aristos does not like them, all 3 married very well with husbands and wife with connections and wealth. They deal with the media, you scratch my back ( provide dirt on other family members Windsor side) and I’ll scratch your back ( you talk about how great of a wife, mother and future queen) I am. Honestly both William and Harry picked well. Kate is NOT going anywhere. She getting the social power

    • notasugarhere says:

      His end of the bargain was marrying a woman he didn’t love in exchange for a family that would cover his cheating for decades to come. Carole wouldn’t have made any deals about how the kids were raised, so long as she got ongoing access to her life goal (the one grandchild that is heir to the throne). Her only deal was in ensuring Kate married in, so she’d agree to cover for William’s constant philandering at any cost.

      The Middletons don’t speak more posh than everyone, as Kate is the only one in that family who has the garbled, made up accent. As for the Middletons being a good influence? A Mrs. Bennett mother, a shady uncle, an absent father, three adolescent adults who cannot function in the adult world? They’re just as scheming and backstabbing as the Windsors, but the Midds add in an huge dose of psychological/emotional co-dependency and manipulation.

      • A says:

        Hey now. Let’s be kind. Mrs. Bennett wasn’t nearly all that bad, she was largely set up to be commentary on how difficult it was to be a woman of the landed gentry who only had daughters, and was feeling the crunch to get them married in order to secure their futures so they didn’t need to live in penury as spinsters. It was a time when women of that class couldn’t exactly have careers and would have needed to live off the largesse of their male relatives if they didn’t wind up getting married to people who could provide for them.

        What is Carole Middleton’s excuse, particularly in this day and age?

      • JMoney says:

        @notasugarhere That’s not entirely true, reportedly when W&K got back together after they broke up, Carole did make an agreement with Will on how future children would be raised (google it). The fact the children are now living closer to the Middleton family and the Middleton family heavy involvement in the children’s lives shows how if an agreement was stuck, Carole got her end of the bargain as did Billy. I never said the Middleton influence was a good influence, I said it was good PR which it is b/c it shows how non aristo they are in having such a close relationship with their children and grandchildren.

  15. HeatherC says:

    “Hectic schedules and daily school runs.” That always makes me laugh. The Middleton influence on the kids is strong, I expect a briefing against the Cambs from Clarence House soon.

  16. Lady Esther says:

    Oh, I think it’s a combination of wanting to have less of a commute to Battersea (even though it is highly doubtful they do the school run regularly…wasn’t there a Daily Mail article about parents being annoyed at security blocking all the school entrances, because security does the school run?) and looking for a non-aristo school where Kate can be Queen Bee. I also expect them all to go to Marlborough to build that Middleton branding, they have no real loyalty to Eton and William probably has bad memories from there. I don’t think William cares.

    The small details in this article are making my day. “I have to say that the match tea looked good but the cakes tasted of nothing.” At-will boarding so the parents can get properly drunk and not have to be hungover around the kids! Hilarious

    • Nic919 says:

      There was a school much closer to Kensington than the one they chose, so it’s hilarious they try to pull the commute out as an excuse now.
      The school change is because Kate got her own place at Adelaide cottage and Lambrook is the closest one to there.

  17. Sue E Generis says:

    I don’t think any of this really matters in the end. The royals generally don’t value education and regardless of where they go, they’ll automatically be top of the aristo pile. George will be king of England (if the whole grift lasts that long), there’s nothing he could do and nowhere he could go that will land him higher up. As for Charlotte and Louis, they already have access to anyone and anywhere. So, overall, I think the point is to go through the motions in as pleasant a way as possible. And yes, I think Kate understands that she’ll always be looked down on by aristos, so why not be comfortable and happy and fussed about by the ordinary?

    • Becks1 says:

      This is a good point. Regardless of where they go to school, they’re going to move in the most aristocratic circles and George is going to be king some day. So they can kind of play “normal rich family” for now – it wins them points for seeming like they’re rejecting traditional aristocratic schools, even if the kids are still going to grow up as aristocrats obviously. they’re well connected as it is, so the Cambridges can pretend they’re just like any other normal (rich) family for now.

    • Nic919 says:

      I agree. The Cambridges will always have privilege and they won’t need to be intellectual superstars because they don’t have to be. It doesn’t matter which school they attend. This kind of discussion affects the upper middle class kids way more than these three.

  18. EBS says:

    London schools are hothouses, even a “more relaxed” one like Thomas’s Battersea. There’s a lot of academic pressure which only increases with age. I’m sure they are perfectly nice, clever enough children, but there is no need to subject them to the London private school environment. I know lots of parents who have moved out of London so their children can go to schools like Lambrook – amazing facilities, great teachers, but they are not pushing the children academically in the same way as schools in town do.

  19. Nanea says:

    “the Cambridges, who strive to do school runs every day despite their hectic schedules”

    Hectic schedules because they’re busy trying to stay away from each other – and give being actually *working* royals, who oversee meaningful, regular and possibly charitable projects, a wide berth.

    “the cakes tasted of nothing”

    Is this a code for bland, unseasoned, white English food = no kids from well-off families that have a background that is not quite as melanin-deficient as the Cambridges are?

    • The Hench says:

      I will eat my hat if they do the school run every day. Way back when they chose Thomas’ for George we were all on here going ‘that’s bloody miles away from KP in London traffic! It’ll take at least an hour each way and is a security risk to have the royal kids snarled in cars in traffic every day’. Do I think Kate and Wills put themselves in a car to do a two hour school commute every day? Lol. No.

      • Blujfly says:

        And when they do do it they don’t always drive themselves. Kate took an antsy Louis out of the car on the ridge that time while stuck in traffic. She could do that because she was being driven. As with most things Cambridge they do a few things a few times for PR purposes and the media convinces people they do it every day.

    • Pinkosaurus says:

      I don’t understand the cake insult. Is it because they are woke anti-sugar upstarts?

      • Fredegunda says:

        I read it as a nasty metaphor: “The snacks provided at the cricket looked nice, but turned out to have no substance” translates into “The school facilities are immaculately maintained, but the education given to students is lacking.”

  20. Molly says:

    As an American, I simply do not understand boarding school. You just send your kid off to live elsewhere before they’re even a teenager??

    That makes me so sad to think about missing out on so much of their lives when they’re gone so soon. Family dinner chats with my elementary and middle school aged kids right now is the best. I wouldn’t pass that up for anything.

    • Tigerlily says:

      @Molly I’m a Canadian and agree. Boarding school, especially at such a young age, seems so mean. But I didn’t grow up in a ‘posh’ family so it was public (though Catholic) schools for my family. Can’t imagine it any other way.

    • Gah says:

      There’s a real reckoning going on in the UK about the trauma of boarding that early.

      Now that millennials have the vocabulary for it they’re questioning the practice. I suspect even top tier Aristos will slow down on it- before the age of 12 anyway.

      I went to boarding school in the US by choice at age 13 and it was lonely at times but I got the best education, was a scholarship kid and saw a world I never would have known was possible as a small town kid from NC.

      In the UK obvi the vibes and reasons for boarding are different but I think this decision is low key acknowledging that young boarders are not ok for the early years.

      Now if only Cathy Cambridge would put her name on that conversation!!

    • AmelieOriginal says:

      I only heard about boarding schools in the US in the worst of contexts, where problem children were sent because parents didn’t know what to do with them. I’ve heard horror stories about these “reform” schools and I think a lot of them have closed at this point. But I know a few people who went to the posh ones (like Miss Porter’s for girls, Phillips Exeter, Phillips Academy etc.) and believe it or not some kids go to boarding school because it was their choice and loved the experience. It does make the transition to college more seamless for these kids as they are used to going stretches without seeing their parents every day.

      • gah says:

        @Amelie I went to Andover and it was a massively empowering place to be where the coolest thing was to be academic

      • Tanya says:

        I know a ton of kids who opted for boarding school for high school lately, especially during the worst of COVID. But that’s a far cry from forcing your 9 year old to go.

    • AnneL says:

      I went to boarding school at 15, and I think even that can be too young. It depends on the school and the kid, of course. When I went they were not as careful to nurture kids and make sure they had the support they needed. A LOT of stuff fell through the cracks and went unnoticed by the adults supposedly in charge.

      I wouldn’t say I personally had a bad experience, but so many bad things were happening with kids at my school. Bulimia, emotional insecurity, bullying (low-key but insidious and harmful), inappropriate student-teacher interactions. Boarding school is a mixed bag. If there is the option to send a kid to a good school closer to home that answers the kid’s needs, then IMO it should be taken. Kids are going to have struggles, but better for them to happen with parents and siblings etc. close by to keep watch and be there when they have tough days or are making poor decisions.

      • molly says:

        You ever see a family with a bunch of kids? And not even Duggar levels, but like, 6+ kids, and you think, “there’s no way those parents have enough time to guide and nurture each child with the individual attention they need.”

        Now multiply that 10-100x, and to me, that’s boarding school! I have a pre-teen, and he has a LOT to learn before he’s able to live alone. He’s still incredibly fearful of thunderstorms (how do they get hugs??) and has to be reminded daily to wear deodorant.

        He’s also turning into a very smart, funny, determined young man. No amount of “good education” would make it worth it to miss that.

    • NYC212 says:

      I’m an American who went to boarding school even though I could have attended any number of day schools here in New York. I think my parents made the right decision. Most of my class sizes were under ten kids and were taught using the Socratic method. The facilities were university quality. Every teacher was either a housemaster or a duty-master so if you were having trouble with a class, you could just go to their house at night for help.

      Being away from home stops being a big deal once a few days past after you are dropped off the first time. It’s probably not for everyone, though.

    • Renae says:

      I’m American and I started boarding school (in Philadelphia) at age 9. Some kids had been there since first grade.
      It wasn’t all that strange in my neck of the woods.
      It was a great education.

  21. VivaAviva says:

    I’m glad she insists on coed schools. I think it helps men grow up seeing women as their intellectual equals. I know research shows that it has a negative effect on girls, but I hope this is changing with Gen Z and below. I’m a millennial with boomer parents raising 2 Gen Z’s and two younger ones, and the attitudes I see from my sons and their peers are so different from when I was in school.

    • Lisalemann says:

      I agree. I’m a Gen Xer with a 16 year old daughter who goes to Catholic school. We let her choose between the all-girls school in our city (which was definitely the snootier) rich girls school or the co-ed one (more wide range of families – seems more middle class) and she chose the co-ed one (thank goodness!). She’s a math whiz and wants to go into Engineering like her dad and wisely decided that she needs to be used to being in a class with a lot of boys since female engineering majors are definitely the minority at most colleges.

      • Becks1 says:

        The flip side of that is that if she went to an all girls school, she would accept that she was the one with the correct answer and respond accordingly once she gets to mixed sex settings. Single sex educations especially benefit women going into male dominated industries.

        You don’t want to know how many men are STILL, to this day, shocked at how I don’t yield to them, even slightly, and it’s bc of my years in a single sex school.

        Seriously people if single sex ed wasn’t for you or your kids that’s fine. But let’s stop with things like “my daughter needs to know how to interact in a male dominated industry.”

        Because Nancy Pelosi would like a word.

        (Again though this is just about single sex education in general, not the cesspool that i am sure is many of the all male boarding schools in the UK).

    • A says:

      This is another huge issue with non co-ed schools, particularly non co-ed boy schools. There was an article I read a long time ago about a woman who was teaching in one of those schools (I think it was a British public school actually) who was regularly left in tears by the way the boys treated her during her time there, and the reason that was given was that it was because it was an all-boys institution and they were horrible to her because they simply did not see women as human beings.

      British public schools that are all-boys schools are absolute cesspits. Imo, they should be banned completely, or they should be forced to become co-ed at the VERY least.

  22. Ann says:

    Good for her. My guess is that she had a happy childhood and wants to replicate that as much as possible for her own children.

  23. Snappyfish says:

    I think it’s sweet for George & Charlotte to go to the same school u til he heads off to Eton. (Louis as well but the older two are close in school years) However or why it happened, I think it’s nice. My sister (younger) & I enjoyed being in the same school(including boarding) & until I left for uni

  24. ShazBot says:

    I am utterly fascinated by the Saturday school thing. Is this common? Do they have more or longer breaks in the year or just more educational days??? I don’t know if I’d want to only have 1 full day a week with my kids, 2 seems short as it is!

    • Gah says:

      Saturday morning classes are common at boarding schools in the UK and US. Then sat afternoons there are tons of sports and performances and parents travel to see the kids.

      Schools often have a half day on wednesdays too to travel for sports so it evens out.

      My parents used to hitch a ride on a classmate’s parents’ jet to attend games. The plane happened to be the corporate jet of an all you can eat restaurant chain where the husband was an exec. Growing up my parents took us out as a very special treat to that same all you can eat buffet place (less than $50 for 6 people!) and I thought it hysterical they both ate there as patrons and rode on the jet. Love a good socio economic mix!

    • AmelieOriginal says:

      Saturday morning school also used to be common across all of France, not just in boarding schools. I’m not sure how common it still is, it was still in practice in the 90s as I know some of my cousins would go to school on Saturday mornings. The schedule used to be that kids would get Wednesday/Thursday (I forget the exact day) off and go to school Saturday morning and then get Saturday afternoon/Sunday off (that’s what it was like for my dad in the 60s). I believe most schools have adapted to the Monday-Friday schedule but I think some schools get a half day on Wednesdays.

      • Surly Gale says:

        As an ADHD girl, I fell through a lot of cracks growing up. Elementary school in the ’60s and high school in the ’70s. I believe I could have benefitted enormously from a break in the middle of the week to catch up on school work, and then the Sat afternoon/Sunday off to continue to catch up. Honestly it sounds like it would have been a dream come true, looking back.

    • AnneL says:

      Yes, at my boarding school we had Saturday classes every other week. They were shortened classes so it was really only a half day. It always struck me as unproductive and pointless, but I was a teenager, so of course I didn’t like them, lol.

  25. Christine says:

    This is all so fascinating to me. I wonder how Harry and William’s experience was? Perhaps its Will who wants George and the kids to have a different experience. Perhaps his wasn’t that great. His parents were a mess and maybe school was miserable for him as well. As much criticism as I have had for PW and honestly sometimes for Harry, their childhood’s really must have been nightmares. So much dysfunction and trauma. Perhaps he is trying to fix that in some way. George has got quite the road ahead of him.

  26. Blithe says:

    The descriptions of the school sound pretty wonderful. I think both parents had some negative experiences with their own school experiences, and may be genuinely trying to provide their own kids with more nurturing environments. If they want something different as the kids get older — including more aristo friends — there will always be other opportunities and even other schools that will support that. These kids don’t need to pick a school in order to have access to anyone.

    I also wonder if the adults in his life, for multiple reasons, decided that George would do better in a nurturing, non-boarding school environment, and started with that as a goal when choosing a school that could accommodate all of the kids. As the kids get older, and develop different strengths and interests, they can always switch things up p to suit their needs. If this school lives up to its descriptions, it sounds like a great pick.

    • A says:

      In general, how good is boarding school for children that young, really? It’s the done thing for the aristocracy in Britain, obviously, but in truth, is it in fact any good for a child’s development or educational journey? I haven’t read the literature on this, but I seem to remember from ages ago, when the question of whether George would go off to boarding school was debated in these parts, that it was brought up that it really was not. Sending a kid off to board as early as 8 or 9 is not a very good thing to do. Whatever the reasons might be, the fact that Baldy and Waity aren’t doing this is one of the very few good decisions they’ve made, literally ever.

  27. TheOriginalMia says:

    I think it’s a combination of factors. Kate is the top mom at these schools, amongst the noveau rich. The aristos don’t give a toss about royalty. Their lineages go back centuries. William doesn’t care. And finally, Kate doesn’t want to let go of George. She has power as George’s mum. If he’s around, she can mold him to be more Middleton than Windsor. Away from her, closer to Charles or William, and the BRF can get their tentacles in him more securely.

    • Honey says:

      Her power is definitely through her children. I’m sure that has been mentioned but what happens to her power base when her children become more independent.

      I’ve never speculated about the state of their marriage, e.g. cheating, divorce, does William truly love her. After all, who knows what happens inside of a relationship? Kate will hit 50 or thereabouts when George becomes an adult, with Charlotte not far behind. This means that she’ll be about 52 – 53, when Louis is 16 – 17 (and he’s not the “important” one). Who does she cling to for relevance than? William might be Regent by then. Who knows?

      She may not have any interests of her own to cultivate when that time comes. Also, her children may not be as dependent on her as she and her siblings are on their parents.

      • A says:

        @Honey, she would cling to George and her kids for relevance and power and influence, even more so than she does now. The one thing that no one can take away from her is the fact that she is the mother to the next monarch. Even her status as William’s wife might be contingent on whether WIlliam wants to stay married to her. But that link she has to the monarchy via George and her children can never be severed.

      • Honey says:

        @A, I think you have deliberately missed my point. Like many women, Kate seems to not have developed herself outside of her roles as wife and mother. George, despite being in the line to inherit, Charlotte and Louis will all be adults—sooner than one thinks. She will not be able to line the kids up (all wearing blue) and point to some dinky event that is happening for their entertainment, leaning forward to offer some explanation to them, or pull a funny face. They won’t need that or her in that capacity. That’s just how it is.

      • A says:

        @Honey, No, I understood your point, I think. I don’t actually disagree with it. But I also think that while she might not be needed by her children in the capacity you describe, and while she might struggle with that since she has no interests or a life outside of her kids, the fact is, what she is aiming for in the long run is status. She will get that status from being the mother to a future monarch.

        Her kids might out grow her, and might not need her to point at events and offer explanations, but as a parent, she is going to stay in their lives, especially George’s, and she’ll just transition away from the cutesy kid stuff to fashioning herself as the “mother and foremost advisor” to George, the FFFK.

        I can see the Middleton PR writing the headlines about Kate right now. “Kate, 62, mother-of-three, has more and more become George’s unofficial advisor, and all together steady shoulder for him to lean on for support in the coming years. This is a role that Kate learned well from her own mother, Carole, who spent years being the pillar of support to all her children, and even William, who relied on her keen insight for decades in the run up to becoming monarch himself.” (Middleton PR, I know ya’ll read here in these parts, you can feel free to use this in the next twenty years, it literally took me two seconds.)

  28. tuille says:

    Keeping the 3 kids together for now is healthier than separating them into all-boy / all-girl schools. I also think it’s a slow snub that keeping them out of traditional “aristo” schools is a way of limiting the contact & any influence that the posh set will have on Cambridge offspring in 10-20 years. Kate’s 3 will make friends along the way with regular rich kids & the aristos won’t be invited to Cambridge birthday parties, perhaps lessening their social influence. “My mother had a play date at KP” doesn’t sound nearly as impressive as “My kids are at AC for a party today.”

  29. Liarose says:

    I dont buy any of these excuses. I dont think Kate care that much about education or work. I think these constant change in the school is because william get close to these kids mom ( where some articles said he goes to gym) . I think this way of Kate and Carol cutting any affair turn into emotional thing. As for William this is new school give opportunity to seek new affairs or new wife. If kate truly cares about mental health these constant change in school messed up kids and george seems very shy child and it will be nightmare to make new friends . There is reason why diana chose Eton for her boys. If george doesnt go there it will be huge mistake. Charles goes to scotland and hated every minute of it.

    As for Kate might be comfortable pulling rank with these new money . I think personally these kids have hard time because some new money kids have loving marriage parents. In Eton every aristocracy have messed up marraige . They have this bond over broken home marraige.

  30. matthew says:

    I think the aristo set loathes Kate more than we know and make her life miserable. They’re very good at behind your back snickering.

  31. TL says:

    Maybe it’s a consort thing. Wasn’t Philip in charge of the kids education?

    • Becks1 says:

      Philip was in charge of the family in general, which included education. that’s why things seemed to fall apart (in the public eye) in the past few years as he got older and sicker.

  32. Amy Bee says:

    The school sounds very posh and I’m in agreement with others that Kate probably doesn’t want her children mixing with the aristos who rejected her.

  33. aquarius64 says:

    I think Kate pushed for this school because the aristos will hold the kids’ Middleton lineage against them. The Middletons are not respected with that crowd. However, being with nouveau riche families is no guarantee of deference. Those families worked for their wealth and may not want to bow and curtsey to people who basically didn’t work for their money. The kids, I hope, are taught to stand up for themselves and suss out who will be real friends and not just looking for access for the family..

    • Honey says:

      This is just one of the reasons why there is such diminishing returns on aristocracy and royalty. However, let’s not kid ourselves. It’s still attractive. We are all fans. But, but, but . . . many of the people with whom they rub shoulders have immense and massive wealth too or even more so—if not through inheritance than through connections, their own savvy, and/or luck and hard work. They don’t need William or Kate. They have the means to outright buy or influence politicians/policy and steer more wealth their way. These folks are making what William possesses (title and bloodlines et al) even more exclusive and rare but redundant nonetheless in terms of money, power, and influence.

    • A says:

      I don’t think these kids need deference. But they definitely don’t need to be condescended to because of plain old snobbery, which, no matter how we slice it, is definitely an issue that Kate absolutely has to put up with as the entrance fee for her position in life. And they would absolutely be dealing with a ton of snobbery at an institution like Eton, to say nothing of the rest of the bullying and horrendous behaviour that goes on in such places, and the types of people it produces for this world.

      In fact, it would be good for these kids to not be treated with deference. I think there’s actually an odd mix of deference and snobbery and bullying at the institutions aristocrats send their kids to, which would also be no good. I think that what’s going to happen is that these kids will wind up meeting other people who are, in fact, the complete anti-thesis of the social climbing Midds, who sold out their middle-class credentials to cravenly pander to and doormat themselves to aristocracy. This is going to backfire on the Midds and the Royal Family, but not in the way either of them imagine. It’s likely these children are going to meet self-possessed, confident, individuals, who are much closer to aunt Meghan and uncle Harry in how they are, and this is going to be a huge help for them in becoming the types of people they really should be.

      I will always root for these kids. I think these kids need influences that are outside of the Midds and freaking Baldy with his anger issues. Harry broke free, in spite of all the odds, because he had good influences and role models from his time in the military. I hope these kids find those in life and realize there is more to life than the incredibly limited world their parents offer them.

      • aftershocks says:

        Your comment @A comes closest to what I have been pondering. It’s not so much about the Cambinos being snubbed by aristo set. Khate is the one snubbed, not her royal, titled children. Ultimately, the Cambinos will always be well-connected due to their close-to-the-throne royal status. Their generation of aristos will be the ones trying to make connections with them as adults, w/o having had schools in common. So that will work itself out, depending on what happens in the future regarding the monarchy. I think it would be better if the courtier set and the old, traditional monarchy ends b/f George comes of age. Or maybe George will end it, if Will doesn’t mismanage it into oblivion first.

      • aftershocks says:

        Honestly, of far more importance, IMO, is this question: How are George, Charlotte, and Louis processing their parents’ estrangement from their Uncle Harry, their Aunt Meghan, and the Sussex cousins they know exist, but probably have never interacted with, as a direct result of their parents’ jealousy and racism?

        Schools for the nobility and wealthy classes in Britain seemingly exist within a snobby bubble created by the endemic, systemically biased attitudes of the British class system. Will the Cambinos escape being superior, snobby, lazy, racist grifters in the way that their Grandma Diana, and their Uncle Harry escaped by virtue of rare compassion, empathy, and true caring for others?

        All I can say at this juncture: It’s completely brilliant, wonderful, and fortuitous that Archie and Lili were removed from the downside environment of ‘silent contract’ scapegoating, racism, xenophobia, and classist snobbery they would have been targeted with growing up in Britain, because of their mother’s working class American background, and her multi-ethnic heritage. This, despite the fact that Meghan can trace her parental family lineage directly back to King Edward III of England.

  34. AnneL says:

    It sounds like a lovely school. I don’t know what their (her?) reasons are exactly, but I applaud the choice. The other kids will be Posh, but at least most will have parents who had to earn their money and didn’t just have $$$ and status fall in their laps.

  35. AmelieOriginal says:

    Everyone acts like George going to Eton is a given but apart from William and Harry, what other royals have gone there? It’s not a royal tradition to go there. So far George hasn’t attended any of the schools that William did. George may not even go to a boarding school and if he does, it may not be Eton (surely there are other prestigious boarding schools in the UK apart from just Eton). I don’t know the logic that goes into picking schools for their kids (some have posited being away from the aristo set because Kate hasn’t been accepted by them and that’s a good theory!) but so far following in William’s footsteps hasn’t been a consideration at all. So it may not be the case for George. Also by the time he goes to high school, I think George will have a say in where he goes and probably visit schools to decide. William and Kate aren’t going to force him to go to Eton if he isn’t interested.

  36. bitsycs says:

    I’m sure they have tons of self centered reasons for these choices, but at the end of the day, this choice (not boarding, co-Ed, lots of outdoor space, etc) is what I’d choose for my own kids. So, relatable. I think their marriage is fully off the rails, I think they both are self absorbed bullies, utterly toxic – I also think both aren’t the brightest bulbs. HOWEVER, I think they both recognize that the Royal upbringing is pretty garbage, and modeling a more “middle class” Middleton upbringing is probably a better choice for kids. I think, at the end of the day, these two always pay the Piper of the Royal machinery but I think when it comes to the kids it is always reluctantly. They do it because they don’t have a choice but if they did, they’d make different choices. I think schooling and not boarding and all that is an easy enough mold to break considering William himself wasn’t educated exactly the same as his dad and frankly they get good PR from the vast majority by raising their kids in less aristo fashion. So it’s likely that not only is it what Kate wants, it also fits their normal family PR.

    • Becks1 says:

      I disagree that they recognize that the royal upbringing is pretty garbage. In order for that to be the case, William would have to acknowledge that there is something wrong with HIM as a result, and I don’t think he has the self-reflection for that.

      I really just think this is about Kate moving to Windsor (and the kids going with her) coupled with Kate trying to copy her own childhood as much as possible with her kids.

      • Bitsycs says:

        I really think they do to some extent. William seems to think he rose above it, imo, which is hilarious in so many ways. But he has in the past been critical of his parents/upbringing. On some level I think they are at least aware that the way he was raised is not seen as best practices by most. I also think he – at first not sure about now – did enjoy the Middleton family vibe and prefers that for his kids vs his own upbringing.

        To me, he’s exactly the type to think his own upbringing was subpar but that he has no lingering ill effects from it.

        I also think this is about the future of their marriage and separation but I think some of these decisions about schooling were made years ago (not this particular school but co-ed, when to board or not board, keeping the kids together). This particular school, though, especially location, is because of the future of their marriage

      • Becks1 says:

        honestly, I think to the extent he seems to be rejecting his own childhood is because to a certain extent he doesn’t care that much about things like where the kids go to school, and I think he likes the praise for seeming to reject royal upbringing. Look in this post, at how many people are praising them for making a more “normal” choice. We see such a push from the Cambridges for people to think they are normal, and I think this is just part of that.

        KATE may have opinions on royal upbringing, but she certainly seems to embrace certain aspects of a royal childhood, so again not a total rejection.

    • Beach Dreams says:

      Nah, if they really didn’t care for the royal upbringing they wouldn’t be singling out George for special treatment so often (and they’d still be mostly keeping their children out of the spotlight like they did pre-2019, but that’s another discussion). It’s one thing to have him prepare for a (maybe) future as a king, but it’s another matter to prop him up the way they have. Frankly, Kate’s upbringing is pretty similar to William’s in that she was clearly prioritized and favored as the golden child in her family. They’re just perpetuating toxic cycles that they both benefited from.

      • Nic919 says:

        She brought George as a young child to go hunting, which is a pretty violent thing for a child to see. And she did it because it’s what royals do. Kate’s entire life is wanting to be considered royal so the choice of this school has nothing to do with avoiding royal traditions. There just happen to be no consistent schooling patterns for the royals which is why the kids are going to the closest posh school to Adelaide cottage.

  37. Kokiri says:

    This is totally about the impending “separate lives”.
    The only thing left is the “William is staying in London because of his schedule “ announcement.

    • Jaded says:

      Totally agree. Kate gets Adelaide Cottage, and is close to the kids while Willnot is allegedly working in London. Working on his next affair I would hazard. She gets to lord it over the nouveau-riche and not have to worry about being snubbed by the toffs.

    • Beach Dreams says:

      Yup, and I think it was casually mentioned that William would be based in London for work in at least one of the articles reporting on Adelaide Cottage a month ago.

    • Nic919 says:

      I don’t think it’s impending anymore. Already William and Charlotte were seen arriving by helicopter to Birmingham with kate waiting for them in the car.

  38. Blujfly says:

    The answer is in the comment about the London schools being a hot house – these are soft schools for upper middle class children whose parents want them coddled. That’s how Kate was raised. These schools don’t have the children of few aristocrats who are competitive and expect their children to actually be the best nor the immigrant kids whose parents push them academically. The commentators talking about being a big fish in a small pond and that dynamic are right. And regarding William’s aristocratic Friend’s rejecting Kate, who? The truth is William never had many aristocratic friends. He came out of Eton totally lacking in friends with the boys at the top. William is friends exclusively with second sons of aristocrats (if any) and non titled rich toffs. Ie, people who will bow and scrap to him and put up with his whining demands. This was true before Kate.

    • gah says:

      this comment is JUICY. a lot of the men who control the UK (House of Lords, big deals in the City) went to Eton. I did not know about his friends group being “second sons.”

      totally agree about this being a school for the not that academically focused children of rich folk. the ones who are ambitious and have kids gunning for top tier colleges at Oxbridge wouldn’t make this kind of a move.

      • Blujfly says:

        There’s articles from 2006-2008 discussing this dynamic in between the lines. I specifically remember one article that discussed how only 1 of his friends is allowed to tease him and “flick his ear.” And how William likes to toy with people that want to be his friend. If you google those exact phrases you’ll likely find them.

    • Muna says:

      The monarchy cannot survive without the aristocracy. Both William and Kate will need to learn to play nice with the aristos. An aristocratic revolt will end the monarchy, not the peasants.

      • Jais says:

        But what would ever make the aristocrats want to revolt and end the monarchy? That’s a genuine question.

  39. Andie says:

    aristocrats’ kids. Kate prefers to send her kids to posh schools for new-money families, where the children of lawyers, hedge-funders and businessmen might go.

    It’s almost like she knows something about the future of the monarchy (say one generation away) in Britain that everyone suspects

  40. Nina says:

    While the Lamebridges get a lot of side-eye from me, I do think this is a good choice made from the heart. However, I also think there is the convenient added-benefit of not being able to take on more work because they are ‘busy parents actively raising their children at home’.

    Mmmmmn-hmmmmn.

  41. Lizzie says:

    Have they moved? Under cover updates going on?

    • Beach Dreams says:

      No one seems to know. I know their ‘fans’ were convinced that they were quietly moving in when Kate failed to show up to that Wimbledon centenary celebration of Centre Court (and barely popped in at Wimbledon at all), but no stories confirmed that.

      • Lorelei says:

        Do their fans seriously think they’d be tied up for days packing their belongings, taping up boxes, loading moving vans, etc?

        Even if I had W&K’s resources and “people” to do everything for me, there are definitely a few things I’d want to handle myself if I was moving (a few sentimental pieces, etc.)— but that would probably take about ten minutes, tops. No way were they SO BUSY moving that Kate had to skip the centenary celebration. Ffs.

        I honestly wonder how the Cambridges even have fans and what these “fans” find admirable about them. I initially liked Kate back in 2010-11, but it was *extremely* short-lived because she didn’t freaking DO (or even so much as say) anything.

        Then I moved to actively despising her after Meghan came along. I cannot fathom that ten+ years later, there are still people who adore her.

    • Nic919 says:

      Today they made separate arrivals in Birmingham. Only William and Charlotte took the helicopter.

  42. DeluxeDuckling says:

    So future leaders are expected to go to Eton, which is only for boys. No wonder parliament is a dude fest

    • A says:

      There’s a reason why Boris Johnson turned out the way he did, and that’s in part because he went to sausage fests like Eton. Britain is the way it is bc so many of its recent leaders were spat out by Eton and Oxbridge pipeline.

      It is EXCEPTIONAL that a future monarch and head of state for Britain is not going to a similar such place. May George and his siblings get the sort of education they desperately will need for their futures. Their social circles will be expanded marginally beyond the snot-nosed, do-nothing offspring of fellow aristocrats, and that’s actually a good thing.

      • Becks1 says:

        It’s not that exceptional considering that Charles did not attend Eton?

      • A says:

        Charles still went to an all-boys boarding school that, by and large, adhered to the same sort of dog-eat-dog principles that most if not all such institutions adhere to. That type of shit produces a certain type of person. I think Charles was an intellectual and didn’t like the sort of emphasis that Gordonstoun placed on physical education and outdoor sports, but in terms of the bullying and the hazing, that is par for the course for every institution of its type, and in that way, Charles didn’t get much of a different education than most of his peers.

      • Fredegunda says:

        All previous and current British monarchs have been educated by private tutors and almost none of them prior to Charles had ever gone to school unless you count cadet training where some of them were sent when they were very young teenagers. Even QEII was educated at home. (One of her tutors was the provost of Eton.) Charles is the first to have gone to a “normal” school — in quotation marks because Gordonstoun isn’t exactly normal.

        All of which is to say that education is the one thing in which there really seems to now be no tradition that is suitable for a modern-day royal child, and therefore Kate may be able to win battles about the kids’ schools more easily.

  43. Jessica says:

    I don’t know much about Kate’s early education but I have always gotten the Montessori vibe from her and the schools she is picking for the children. Fellow Montessori mom here and I would pick the exact same schools if I lived there which makes me think she is trying to do Montessori.

    My guess is when the kids get older, they will go more into something like Eton and do the royal path after maybe 8th grade (whatever the equivalent is in England)

  44. MollyB says:

    “Even the most local parents like the idea of their smalls being able to stay over for a night when necessary – it means they can throw dinner parties and have hangovers without having to get the kids to school the next day.”

    Lovely.

    • Nic919 says:

      I know. What great parents that you have to keep your kids away from home because of a dinner party.

    • Blithe says:

      I like the idea, though, for different reasons. I like the flexibility, especially for younger, less independent, or less peer-focused kids. It doesn’t have to be sink or swim — or a full boarding experience for relatively young kids. Starting with spending an occasional day, especially a Friday before games or other types of performances would allow the kids to gradually become more peer and school focused, and ease them into full boarding experiences, which is a good option, in many ways, for older kids.

  45. Rapunzel says:

    Lol… I read the school’s name as Lamebrook at first, and thought, “How appropriate for the Lamebridges.”

  46. HamsterJam says:

    I hope this is a soft and warm environment for him because I have never seen a child so miserable and uncomfortable in almost every photograph you see of him.

    No idea what is bothering the poor child, but he looks like he needs some help

    • Red Weather Tiger says:

      I was thinking the same thing. I don’t give W&K much credit for anything at all, but maybe…they talked to his teachers at Thomas’ and those teachers pointed out some of George’s strengths and/or weaknesses that might make this school a better fit for him. I mean, he has had teachers for a few years now who just might have some valuable insight about the kid.

    • Lorelei says:

      @Hamsterjam, same. Obviously we only see George under specific circumstances, where he’s forced to dress up like a tiny banker and be paraded past hordes of photographers, so *maybe* he’s a totally different, much happier, child in his regular daily environment?
      At least I hope that’s the case. Because it’s hard to watch him look so distressed so much of the time we do see him. He may be the oldest, but he’s still just a young child.

  47. BeanieBean says:

    I loved that one parent’s description of the place! It sounded like she thought it was absolutely ridiculous. And what a bizarre line of thinking: hey, it’s great, we can have the kids board a night or so a week so we can booze it up & not have to bother with our kids? That’s a thing?

  48. Julia K says:

    Location location location. Lambrook is 15 minutes from Adelaide Cottage. Buckleberry is 45 minutes away from Adelaide Cottage. Carole could be the pick up for both Kate and Pippa when both ladies are otherwise engaged and keep them at her home. Or Pippa could do the same. Either way ,Kate, Pippa and Carole are within the same general area.

  49. tamsin says:

    I think the education at Lambrook (and for that matter Thomas Battersea) sounds like an excellent liberal, holistic type of program with an appropriate focus on physical education and the natural world, and something a modern monarchy should give their children. I would like my child to attend such a school. I hope they also encourage children to be open-minded and kind. Unfortunately, such an education is usually very expensive, and not every child would be lucky enough to have access to it. So the Cambridge kids were probably exposed to a wider social circle at Battersea than Harry and William were exposed to, and will continue to at Lambrook if its the school that their parents have chosen. There may be scholarships, but nevertheless, their cohorts will still be very privileged children.

    • Julia K says:

      Yes. Physical education as in Pippas’ masters thesis. Wonder if she’ll teach there or send her 2 oldest there.

  50. Red Weather Tiger says:

    Another American here–I grew up such that my parents couldn’t even afford a week at sleepover summer camp (I was not the kind of kid who would want to go to camp anyway, so I never cared), but I want to know the logistics. Some kids stay over all the time. Some stay over occasionally. Do they have like a block of, say, double rooms they can assign to kids who need to stay over on any boozy Friday, or is this a “twenty kids to one big room” set-up, like “Annie”?

  51. Evie says:

    Maybe, just maybe, both Kate and Will want the best, most comfortable education for their kids…It could be that simple.

  52. A says:

    There’s a lot I fault Kate for, but her choice of schools for her kids ain’t it. Co-ed is light years better than the regressive and terrible attitudes you get taught in an institution like Eton. I don’t care if she’s doing it bc she doesn’t want to deal with other snobby parents, or bc she’s too lazy to drive to wherever these other institutions are. The end result is that George is getting a better, more well-rounded education than he would at a place like Eton, and that’s crucial.

  53. James says:

    I think these are children and where their parents send them to school is no one’s business.

    • Becks1 says:

      ….? What? They are public figures. They are funded by the Duchy of Cornwall. Unfortunately (because I do think it’s sad, to be honest) where they go to school IS the public’s business. This is the future head of state for the UK. There can and will be opinions on this.

      Also. Gossip site!!

  54. Jay says:

    The disdainful description of the parent who sniffed at the “freshly painted” and manicured lawns of Lambrook made me snort with laughter – what exactly is a more “rough around the edges” prep school? 😂

    The whole conversation reminds me of the article in the Tatler years back decrying the Middleton house as “like a hotel” with scented candles and plumped up cushions, while the “real aristos” love their threadbare carpets and sofas with dog hair etc. It’s the same sort of snobbishness, and I don’t really blame Kate for opting out – she’s not really part of the aristo set, right? So why pretend? In a way, this may be Kate’s way of cutting out the toffs access more permanently. It will be interesting to see what the consequences will be long term.

    • Jumpingthesnark says:

      Kate has called the shots on the kids education and will continue to do so. I think they’ll go to Marlborough too. I don’t think normal Bill cares that much (certainly not as much as the upper middle class family man dad he is cosplaying).

    • liriel says:

      I’d run away screaming from such crowd. No winning this. Even if she was ambitious hard working and nice. She was never accepted. Is the aristo any better?

    • A says:

      Oh god, was it years back already? It was only a couple of summers ago that that Tatler article came out, right? But yes, that’s exactly what this person’s descriptions sent me back to.

      There is a lot I don’t like Kate for, but I think she is and has been a victim of aristocratic snobbery for a long time. I stopped caring about it as far as she’s concerned bc she decided to sell out and jumped into the viper’s nest of racists and prejudiced assholes with both her feet, because she was just THAT desperate to be one of them, that even being a racist asshole was no bar for her or her family! It was more important for her to grovel after these inbred, chinless f*cks for their status, even when they’ve made the pecking order perfectly clear to her.

      But they HAVE made the pecking order perfectly clear to her, and that IS an example of exactly how snobby and disgusting these people really are. And I do think the way they talked about this school in this article is another classic example of their general aversion to cleanliness, which is par for the course for these aristocrats (because obviously that’s very middle class, isn’t it, to be clean).

  55. ChattyCath says:

    Some history: Diana insisted on Eaton as ‘All the Spencer boys went there’. It’s a really nice school, I went to an open day there but there is local gossip about drugs and prostitutes and as the school is spread out through the town security is a nightmare. Sir Winston Churchill was an aristocrat but his mother was a rich American and he was referred to as ‘A half breed’

    • A says:

      Keep in mind, the drugs and the prostitutes gossip is, in its own way, yet another example of how the old-money, aristocratic crowd view the new money crowd. And the drugs and prostitutes gossip is very much centered around and aimed at targeting the new money crowd, at least the version of the gossip that I’d always heard (something abt a Russian oligarch’s son getting driven down to town by his bodyguard to get some “”””experience””” with women or something like that).

      That sort of gossip is spread by people who think Eton accepting anyone outside of “their crowd” is somehow watering down the prestige of the place. Of course, I dunno what sort of gossip you heard from your end, so maybe it didn’t have to do with the particular crowd that I heard it pertaining to.

  56. Carolind says:

    Yes, Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, went to Eton as did older royals, the Queen’s cousins, the Kents and Gloucesters.

    Regarding Prince Harry, he apparently stated in an interview with Jeremy Clarkson he was, like loads of other people including Princess Beatrice who has a degree, dyslexic. If my memory serves me right he also had to repeat a year in school when young.

  57. Petal says:

    Of all of the many shitty things these two have done, this is the best move I have seen them make. There. That’s my “say something nice” for likely some time to come. Then again, they always manage to fuck it up. so…we shall see.

  58. Likeyoucare says:

    Why did i read the article as an advertisement. Did the lambrige receive a cut, discount, or free admission ticket for kate’s mom to sell to others?

  59. susan says:

    Bet there’s not even one Black child enrolled at this school. Maybe one or two who have a grandparent from India or Pakistan, maybe.