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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Russell Myers & Adam May

Kate and William's children to start new school as family move closer to Queen

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's children will start a new school together in September.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will be starting at the private Lambrook School in Berkshire in just a few weeks' time, which is based just around the corner from the Cambridges' new residence at Adelaide Cottage.

Facilities include the school’s own Orchard, woodland, nine-hole golf course, 25-metre swimming pool, as well as a cricket pitch. Pupils could even try their hand at polo.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte have both been attending Thomas’s School Battersea for the last few years, with Prince Louis at Wilcocks Nursery School in South Kensington, meaning this will be his first day at school.

Lambrook school is a day and boarding school for boys and girls aged from three to 13 years.

The school stated on its website that it's "keen to encourage children to develop their interests and explore things that they are passionate about".

Prince Louis will join his siblings as he prepares for his first day at school (Getty Images)

A Christian school, it prides itself on its high academic standards, with a pass rate of 100 per cent for the Common Entrance exam - taken by private school pupils as part of the selective admissions process at age 13.

With 620 pupils, it is a larger than average pre-prep and prep school but billed as not as pushy as its London counterparts, with some of its intake being bussed in from west London and Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey.

There is school on Saturday mornings followed by an afternoon of sports fixtures for pupils in Year 5 and above which includes nine-year-old George.

George's first day at nursery back in 2016 (PA)

Lambrook offers weekly and flexi-boarding for boys and girls aged seven onwards, with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge having the option to let George and Charlotte stay as little as one night a week on an ad-hoc basis, with the sleepovers booked online.

George and Charlotte will be day pupils for now.

Lambrook was founded in 1860 and two of Queen Victoria's grandsons, Prince Christian Victor and Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, attended.

Princess Charlotte arrives for her first day of school three years ago (Getty Images)

Queen Victoria used to travel from Windsor Castle to the school to watch her grandsons in plays and cricket matches, and is also known to have parked her carriage where the new Queen’s building stands and watch them from there.

The Good Schools Guide describes Lambrook as a "classic prep school" with a "heart of gold", and tells of how youngsters get to "run and run" in the vast grounds with "total freedom to explore, provided you've got your wellies on".

Prince William and Kate (PA)

Kensington Palace said: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have today announced that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will attend Lambrook School in Berkshire from September 2022.

"Their Royal Highnesses are hugely grateful to Thomas's Battersea where George and Charlotte have had a happy start to their education since 2017 and 2019 respectively and are pleased to have found a school for all three of their children which shares a similar ethos and values to Thomas's."

The Palace also confirmed the family will be moving to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor's Home Park before the school term begins.

William and Kate will be spending in excess of £53,000 a year on their children's private education.

The entrance to Lambrook school, a day and boarding school for boys and girls from three to 13 years (REX/Shutterstock)

Fees cost £4,389 a term for Reception to Year 2 pupils such as Louis, £6,448 per term for Years 3-4 like Charlotte, and £6,999 per term for George through Years 5-8.

The bill for three pupils amounts to £53,508's worth of fees in 2021-2022, not factoring in any future boarding which costs £1,481 per term per pupil for Y3-8, potential sibling discount if available, fee increases or the cost of uniform or trips.

Parents enjoy the benefit of not having to deal with muddy PE kits as games clothes are handed in at the start of term and remain there to be laundered by staff, before being sent home at the end of term.

Kate and Prince Louis pictured during the Platinum Jubilee (Getty Images)

Every item must be named but only sewn-on tags are permitted.

Jonathan Perry, headmaster at Lambrook School, added: "We are delighted that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will be joining us this coming September and very much look forward to welcoming the family, as well as all of our new pupils, to our school community."

Ben Thomas, principal of Thomas's London Day Schools, said: "We would like to thank George, Charlotte and all of our leaving pupils for upholding the school's values and for their many contributions to school life throughout their time at Thomas's.

"We wish them every happiness and success at their next schools and beyond."

Prince George (UK Press via Getty Images)
Princess Charlotte (Getty Images)

William and Kate will retain Kensington Palace's Apartment 1A, which was refurbished with £4.5 million of taxpayers' money in 2013, as their official residence and their working base, which will continue to house their office staff.

But they will also keep their 10-bedroom Norfolk country mansion Anmer Hall, which was a gift from the Queen, has a swimming pool and tennis court and underwent large-scale building work at their own cost.

The downsizing to Adelaide Cottage, which is not considered vast, means William and Kate's full-time nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo will live elsewhere for the first time, as will other staff including the housekeeper and the chef.

The source said the Duke and Duchess were very conscious of how their move stands in contrast to the cost-of-living crisis impacting the nation.

Asked whether the couple was mindful of the economic difficulties facing many who would not be able to afford such opportunities, the source said: "They absolutely are.

"It's something they have thought long and hard about and this is a decision they have not taken lightly.

"It would have been extremely difficult for them to continue on as senior working royals if they were based in Norfolk.

"What they have basically done allows them to put the kids first, but also to continue on doing what they do all day, every day."

William and Kate will be able to immerse themselves in the school's busy social life amid reports of plentiful Lambrook get-togethers and helpful WhatsApp groups as Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Range Rovers apparently fill the car park.

William and Kate will be spending in excess of £53,000 a year on their children's private education (REX/Shutterstock)

But one Mumsnet user wrote: "I have been rather put off by the size of Lambrook, and the reputation of 'Lambrook' parents. We are not super wealthy, nor are we city people or country landholders!"

Overseas school trips include jaunts to France, Italy, Iceland and South Africa.

But Year 7 students preparing to embark on a canoeing trip in Sweden must each first fundraise £500 to help an underprivileged child do the same through the Teenage Wilderness Trust.

Sustainability - no doubt a hit with eco-conscious William - is also key with the children planting 400 saplings to create a new woodland.

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said: "Relocating to Adelaide Cottage in the ultra-private Home Park at Windsor takes away the 'goldfish-bowl' aspect of the Cambridge family's life.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte (PA)

"Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace is perfect in so many ways but the Duke and Duchess and their children are unable to come and go as they might like or take advantage of the nearby London parks because of the ever-present privacy issues.

"Logistically, having all three children in the same school makes perfect sense because it means just one school run. With the family in Berkshire the journey will be considerably shorter and easier than the nightmare that was Kensington Palace to Battersea twice a day.

"It also means that the cost of security, always a contentious topic, is much lower than if Louis was at a different school to his siblings."

The Cambridges' new home Adelaide Cottage is a pretty Grade II listed four-bedroom home nestled in Windsor's Home Park.

It was once home to Princess Margaret's lover Peter Townsend, who lived in the grace and favour property in the 1940s with his first wife Rosemary to be on hand for the king in his role as equerry.

Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen, her mother Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret, as a teenager before the romance began, would regularly take tea in the gardens of the cottage with the Townsends and their two young sons.

Prince George at school (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Margaret's love affair rocked the Establishment, but she put duty before desire when she called off plans to marry divorced Townsend in 1955.

Relocating to Adelaide Cottage means William, Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are just 10 minutes' walk south east from "Gan Gan" the Queen at Windsor Castle.

Even closer is Frogmore Cottage, which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex use when visiting the UK, although the brothers' long-running fallout makes it unlikely they will be socialising together any time soon.

The property was rebuilt more than 190 years ago as a cottage orne, or decorated cottage, for Queen Adelaide, the wife of William IV, to be used as a summer retreat.

It was built in 1831 on the site of the old Head Keeper's Lodge on the North Slopes of Home Park.

According to Historic England, the public body which cares for England's historic buildings and places, Adelaide Cottage is a "picturesque" two-storey stucco-faced dwelling with casement windows, and elaborate pierced bargeboards edging the roof.

William and Kate at the Commonwealth Games (Getty Images)

The principal bedroom has a coved ceiling decorated with gilded dolphins and rope ornament reused from the 19th century royal yacht Royal George, and a good marble Graeco-Egyptian fireplace.

The south entrance is flanked by paired diagonally set chimneys with stepped bases, and the house has a porte-cochere, a canopied entrance to provide shelter.

There is a verandah with bargeboard eaves on the east side.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will be starting at a new school next month (KENSINGTON PALACE/AFP via Getty)

Its four-bedrooms mean that for the first time since she joined the family, William and Kate's full-time nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo will live elsewhere, as will other staff including the housekeeper and the chef, giving the Cambridges more privacy.

The location offers the family easy access to the private 655-acre Home Park and the historic royal estate's network of drives, gardens, farms, nearby trout stream, Frogmore House and Royal Mausoleum, and Queen Victoria's Walk flanked by cedars.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte (PA)

Other benefits include neighbouring Windsor Great Park, which spans more than 5,000 acres, with its Long Walk leading up to Windsor Castle, deer park and woodland trails in the Valley Gardens.

The property, previously known as Adelaide Lodge, was constructed by Sir Jeffry Wyatville using materials from John Nash's Royal Lodge built for the indulgent Prince Regent.

Its entrance bears the initials AR (Adelaide Regina) and the date of 1831.

It sits next to another property called Adelaide Lodge, which is empty and inhabitable due to problems with it not being underpinned.

A royal source said: "This is very much a decision that two parents have made to give their children the 'most normal' start possible.

"Kensington Palace can be a little bit of a fishbowl.

"They wanted to be able to give George, Charlotte and Louis a bit more freedom than they have living in central London.

"It's very much a decision that's been led by the kids."

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