A “secret” visit by Catherine, Princess of Wales, to an old haunt might not have been just for the sake of nostalgia.
A recent visit to Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where she was a pupil, has prompted rumours that one deeply established royal tradition may soon be broken.
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It’s thought that the Prince and Princess of Wales may be thinking of sending young Prince George to the school once he reaches the appropriate age.
That would be an unusual decision, because Marlborough College is co-educational – that is, both girls and boys study there.
And if Prince George were to attend a co-ed, it would be a major break in royal protocol.
George’s father, Prince William, and his grandfather, King Charles, attended boys-only schools.
Kate’s “secret” visit did not go unnoticed by people at Marlborough College, a local insider told The Daily Mail.
“Catherine was here the other day,” the source said.
“It’s been the talk of the school.”
A public school for children aged between 13 and 18, Marlborough College is about an hour’s drive from the Wales’ current home, Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.
Kate was a student there from 1996 until 2000, where she obtained A-levels in Maths, Art and English, and captained the women’s field hockey team.
Her sister Pippa and brother James all attended the school, as did Princess Eugenie, the daughter of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew.
Founded in 1843, the school charges annual school fees of around AUD $90,000.
At the moment, all three of Kate and William’s children – George, 10, Charlotte, eight and Louis, five – are enrolled at Lambrook School, which is near their home in Windsor.
Kensington Palace has not commented on Kate’s visit to Marlborough.
And it seems Kate and William may be keeping their options open, with the couple recently paying a visit to prestigious Eton College, where William and Prince Harry were students.
Prince George’s future is very much on his mother’s mind at the moment, with Kate choosing not to join Prince William in Singapore for the upcoming Earthshot Prize Awards so that she can support her son through his Year Six exams.
Prince William will be in Singapore early next month for the awards ceremony but Kensington Palace confirmed in a recent statement that only he would be in attendance.
“The Prince is very much looking forward to being in Singapore,” William’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“The Prince wants to really seize the opportunity of being in Southeast Asia to build more momentum around the Earthshot winners and finalists and to put their solutions to some of the biggest environmental challenges we face firmly on the global map.”
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