Prince George attends 1st day of primary school hand-in-hand with Prince William

Prince George today attended his first day of school at Thomas's Battersea School, a private school in Battersea, South London.

Helen Haslem, the head of Thomas’s lower school, met George, 4, as he arrived at the school, holding his father Prince William's hand, and escorted him inside. Prince William and Princess Kate, both 35, announced in March they would send their oldest child to Thomas's, a coeducation school located in a middle-class area of London.

Thomas's Battersea includes approximately 550 students from a variety of backgrounds whom George will one day lead when he is king. The approximately $23,000-per year school teaches a range of traditional subjects along with ballet, art, drama, French, music and physical education.

George’s first day of school came just days after Kensington Palace announced that a new sibling is on the way for George and his 2-year-old sister, Princess Charlotte.

The palace announced Monday that Kate is pregnant with her third child after she had to cancel a planned engagement because of hyperemesis gravidarum, or acute morning sickness. Kate is under the care of doctors at Kensington Palace and was unable to accompany George on his first day.

"Unfortunately The Duchess of Cambridge remains unwell, and will not be able to accompany Prince George on his first day of school," a Kensington Palace spokesperson said. "The Duke of Cambridge will drop off Prince George this morning as planned."

William and Kate have made a very measured and considered approach to George's education. The Cambridges have not been afraid to depart from tradition and chart their own path for what they think will best protect their children.

George had attended Westacre, a local Montessori school near the family's country home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, a few days per week since January 2016.

William and Kate have now made Kensington Palace in London their family’s full-time residence.

Thomas’s headmaster, Ben Thomas, issued a statement in March when William and Kate’s decision was announced, welcoming George to Thomas's.

"We are honoured and delighted that Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen Thomas's Battersea for Prince George," the statement read. "We greatly look forward to welcoming him and all of our new pupils to the school in September."

Prince William was greeted by a large group of media when he first started school at the same age. William and Kate have been careful to shield their children from the media so they can enjoy as normal a childhood as possible. Only a small pool photographed George today, unlike his father's and uncle, Prince Harry,'s first days of school.

 

 

Prince George attends 1st day of primary school hand-in-hand with Prince William (ABC News)