bitchy | Telegraph: Prince George is absolutely going to Marlborough, not Eton

It’s been three solid years of back-and-forth about Prince George’s education. The focus has been on where George will attend the British equivalent of high school – will he attend the all-boys Eton, which is Prince William’s alma mater, or will George attend a coed school like Marlborough, which is the Princess of Wales’s alma mater. The reason there’s been so much gossip reporting about George’s school options is because, in my opinion, William and Kate have not been in agreement. Kate was seemingly briefing the press constantly about how much she really does not want to send George to Eton, all while William acted like Eton was the only option. Back in June of this year, we heard that George will “definitely” head to Eton in 2026. But we also recently heard that Will and Kate will wait until the last minute to announce anything. Well, something’s shifted – according to the Telegraph’s sources, George will be headed to Marlborough next year. Some highlights from this interesting Telegraph piece:

It’s Marlborough: A well-connected friend called me last week. “He’s going to Marlborough,” she said authoritatively. “They’ve sent letters out to parents.” She meant Prince George. After many years of debate, Prince George will – reportedly – go to Marlborough College next September, like his mother, aunt and uncle before him, and those with children in the same house have quietly been alerted. She could be wrong, my friend. This rumour mill has been churning for some time now, after all, with Eton and various others thrown into the mix, but she isn’t often wrong and treats gossip as solemnly as Oscar Wilde. So, Marlborough it may well be.

Why not Eton? Perhaps Eton would have simply been too difficult. Too controversial after its reputation has been trashed by a generation of politicians, and there would have been inevitable photos of George in his tailcoat uniform. It’s a dapper look if you’re off to a smart wedding in Oxfordshire, but possibly not quite the thing for a teenager and future monarch. Especially for a monarchy going through a rocky patch, facing the sniping of republicans, desperately trying to highlight its modern credentials. In the past few weeks, Catherine has spoken out about issues including addiction and mental health, and William arrived for an Apple TV interview with a famous actor on an electric scooter and pronounced that “change” is on his agenda. Could the couple then declare that their son was off to a school viewed as such a bastion of elitism? Tricky.

Why coeducation is likely a priority: For one thing, the ability to talk to women may prove a useful skill. Marlborough is co-ed and may encourage this ability in our future king. I’m not (merely) being facetious; I went to a single-sex school and got very good exam results, but I’m now 40 and essentially married to my terrier. “I think the gender point is a bit of a red herring,” a teacher friend previously told me, while he and I were discussing the important subject of Prince George’s schooling. “He’ll be educated with girls up to the age of 13, single-sex schools exist in the state sector too, and boys and girls were educated separately for centuries. Who says we know better? It’d be great to see William and Kate not give in to every soft liberal stereotype.”

Why Marlborough might appeal to the Waleses: But one friend who does work in education sniffs that Marlborough now is “very monied”. This may sound an absurd accusation given that fees now hover around the £60,000-a-year mark for the top public schools in general. Except my pal insists that the monied tag applies more at Marlborough than plenty of other options. “It’s for very rich people who think they’re quite trad [traditional] and down to earth, but are completely delusional on that front,” he says. According to a mole, it’s also not very strong on phones and tech, “which is one of the things that William and Kate say they care about”. This mole says that Oundle – also rumoured at various stages, also co-ed – would have been more sensible. “It’s genuinely more grounded and properly strict on phones.”

[From The Telegraph]

If this is true, and who even knows at this point, then it’s a major coup for Kate and the Middleton family. Marlborough is a lot closer to the Middletons’ manor home, which makes Carole potentially even more hands-on with the Wales kids. I’m not trying to dismiss Kate’s genuine concerns, namely that George wouldn’t do well in single-sex boarding school, and that Kate wants all three kids to go to the same school. If it’s Marlborough, that also means that George doesn’t have to board, which seems to be one of Kate’s major concerns too – she seems to be very anti-boarding school across the board. If true, this also means that William and Charles likely had to give in to Kate’s demands, because Charles and William allegedly felt strongly about sending George to Eton. What is Kate getting in return for this coup? Or was this something she negotiated last year? It wouldn’t surprise me.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.