Prince George at Eton

[squashyhat]

Can anyone explain why Prince George is boarding at Eton when the family home is just minutes away across the river?

Saying he never looks happy is completely untrue.

Yes, quite obviously W&C are raising very healthy, happy children and that bothers some people.

De-rail:- I noticed that Catherine quite deftly closed her umbrella as she went under an arch(?).

No, most boarders start at 13 these days.

(My father was 7, but that was in 1946.)

Also deftly stepping back instead of pushing to the front.

Really? So glad…..

Every time I see him, he seems to have shot up a few more inches! Looks like he'd be as tall as Catherine now if she wasn't in heels.

I feel really sorry for him. Imagine having your whole life mapped out in front of you from birth, not knowing whether it's something you actually want to do or not. He will have no choices in his life. So Eton will be an opportunity to be relatively normal.

They are all completely fucked up.

Suspect they are quite a bit more stable than most who are watching from the virtual sidelines.

It's a full boarding school.

My child boarded from 7, just a few years ago. It's rare but not unheard of.

Ooh, didn't have my bingo card ready.

’All Etonians are thick as shit’ can also be added to the card.
We haven’t had ‘anyone can buy their way into Eton’ yet, nor ‘there are two old Etonians where I work and they are so entitled and make everyone bow to them’ but no doubt they will be along soon.

Are there no ends to her talents? 😂

I dreamed of going to boarding school when I was young, the camaraderie, the routine, structure, the academic push. My parents were poor though.

Oh my god why? 😢

It's well known that Royals don't always have to meet the same standards others do. Do you think Harry would have passed the Eton entrance exam? Do you think Charles would have got into Cambridge purely on merit?

A variety of reasons. Luckily it worked out but the situation was very complicated and I wouldn't recommend it. Given the chance again, I'd probably rework our entire lives to do things differently (although that could have been fairly explosive). Anyway. Just saying, there are still boarders from age 7 and 8.

Whilst fudging exam passes probably happened in the past, I think that William has probably learnt from those in his family who subsequently struggled. I can't see him or Catherine thinking it's a good idea to send George to a school whose entrance exam he couldn't pass. I don't think either of them would want him to struggle at school and they had plenty of other options.

harry said in spare he didn’t pass even with massive support. Then when he got there he was well out of his depth.

I went to a school where there were day pupils and also boarders. I was always desperate to board. I got to do it occasionally if my parents were away and it was great fun. All my friends that boarded had a fantastic time.

“As for where they are educated, I don't think there's a problem with the future head of state getting the best education possible and to be cultivated in various ways, to develop what used to be called character, so as to be able to speak to anyone, make public appearances, understand different cultures and countries, to be well read and have a sense of art and literature, have a broad knowledge of the way things work in the world, to be confident and act in a polite and dignified manner.”

Surely this should be the baseline standard of education we should be able to expect for every child?

Indeed. It’s well-documented that they are swimming at the shallow of the intellect gene pool.

Do you think Harry would have passed the Eton entrance exam?

Very likely not. However, his mother had died the year before, in a blaze of never ending, worldwide publicity and much criticism of his family. I dread to think how those two boys felt about it all.
Surely in these circumstances it was reasonable to let Harry attend the same school as his brother and close to his grandparents.

But being a member of the royal family and the heir to the throne is also very much "living in an institution" and "not real life". Boarding school will be a massive improvement, being in a class of 20ish peers and able to be just one of the tribe is closer to a bearable life than time outside school term will be.