The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s eldest
children Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven, will
soon be starting at their new school, Lambrook School, after a few years at
Thomas’s Battersea.
The young royals are now in Year 5 and Year 3 respectively
at the Berkshire-based prep school. While Prince George and Princess Charlotte
are two of the most famous children around the world, they’re not referred to
by their royal titles at school.
The siblings are known simply as George Cambridge and
Charlotte Cambridge to their school friends, in a nod to their parents’ titles.
The same will happen to their younger brother Prince Louis when he joins them in
September.
This was also the case for Prince William and Prince
Harry, who took on Prince Charles’ title Wales as their surname at school.
Members of the royal family traditionally don’t use a surname; they are simply
known by their first name in the public eye and His or Her Royal Highness.
They can also be known by the name of their house, such as
Windsor, which may be different from their surname, such as Mountbatten-Windsor.
A declaration made by the Queen in Privy Council
in 1960, said that male-line descendants of the monarch, without royal styles
and titles, shall bear the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first
child Archie were born in May 2019, Harry and Meghan opted to not give
their son a title and he, therefore, has the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
The same can be said for their daughter Lilibet Diana, who was born in June
2021.
In 2020, while meeting emergency responders in Northern
Ireland, Prince William opened up about how he felt about his
children returning to school after the first national lockdown.
Speaking to a police officer, William told her that he
suspected other mums and dads were having the same experience as himself.
The father-of-three said: “I think every parent
is breathing a sigh of relief that school has started again.” He went
on: “Five months – it’s been wonderful, but it’s been a long five
months.”
