Prince George and Princess Charlotte Aren't Going Back to School Right After the Holidays

Plans for Prince Louis to start preschool are also in flux.

  • Prince George and Prince Charlotte haven't yet returned to school after the holidays.
  • The British government instructed London primary schools to remain closed due to high COVID-19 infection rates in the capital.
  • George and Charlotte currently attend exclusive prep school Thomas's Battersea.

Children across the U.K. are going back to school after the holidays today—but Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the oldest children of Kate Middleton and Prince William, will stay at home a little longer. As Hello! reports, the Cambridge kids haven't yet returned to exclusive prep school Thomas's Battersea, after the government announced that all London primary schools should remain closed as a result of high COVID-19 infection rates in the capital. (In the U.K., primary schools typically educate children between the ages of about 4 and 11, though Thomas's Battersea teaches students up to the age of 14.)

The pandemic has also likely changed Kate and William's plans for littlest Cambridge kid Prince Louis, who was predicted to start nursery (preschool) this month, according to Hello! Both George and Charlotte started nursery in January—George in 2016, and Charlotte in 2018—but the Cambridges have yet to make any such announcement for Louis.

When he does start nursery, it's likely he'll follow Charlotte's lead and attend Willcocks Nursery School, which is close to Kensington Palace; George, meanwhile, attended Westacre Montessori School in Norfolk, while the Cambridges made Anmer Hall their primary home.

Looks like it's more homeschooling for the Cambridge kids until London schools reopen—which Kate and William are no doubt used to by now. Back in May, William admitted to struggling with his children's math schoolwork. Speaking in his documentary Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health, the Duke of Cambridge shared, "You start worrying how little you actually know from your school days when you literally can't do the maths questions at home!"

Kate, meanwhile, revealed her secret to successful homeschooling was structure. "Someone gave me some very good advice, pre the [Easter] holidays, to fit some structure to keep to a pretty strict routine," she told the BBC in April. "Don't tell the children, we've actually kept it going through the holidays. I felt very mean."

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Emily Dixon
Morning Editor

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.