iStock/Thinkstock(LONDON) — Prince George Thursday 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 William’s hand and escorted him inside.
Prince George arrives for his first day of school at Thomas’s Battersea with his father The Duke of Cambridge. pic.twitter.com/B7TgcRA3Ve
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) September 7, 2017
William and Kate, both 35, announced in March they would send their oldest child to Thomas’s, a coeducation school with tuition of $22,000 a year. The school has about 500 students and is located in a middle-class area of London.
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.”
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.”
Take a look at The Duke and Prince Harry on their first days of school pic.twitter.com/RkL1MUbC4Q
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) September 7, 2017
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 will photograph George unlike his father and Prince Harry’s first day.
Kate remarked last month she is not certain George “has any idea what’s going to hit him” when he starts school.”
George wore the school’s traditional uniform of a navy v-neck pullover, matching Bermuda-style shorts, long red socks and black shoes.
William remarked at an engagement Tuesday, that due to the effects of Kate’s extreme morning sickness, “There’s not much sleep going on at the moment.”
He said: “We need Catherine to get over this first bit and then we can start celebrating. It’s always a bit anxious to start with, but she’s well.”
William and Prince Harry both went to the all boys Wetherby School in Notting Hill, London — near Kensington Palace — and it had been speculated George might follow in his father and uncle’s footsteps. St. Thomas’s is coeducational and Princess Charlotte could join her brother in a few years. William and Harry attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire before heading to boarding school at Eton College near Queen Elizabeth’s home at Windsor Castle.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.