Nocturnal 
A month into life as a boarder at Eton College, Prince George is reported to have had his first proper weekend back home with his family.
According to a schedule on the school’s website, Eton students were given their first “short leave” of the autumn term from Friday 2 October to Sunday 4 October. Also known as an exeat, it’s the point in the term when boarders are allowed to leave campus and stay with family for a couple of nights, typically from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening.
It means George, 13, who started at Eton on 8 September, is likely to have spent that weekend with his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and his younger siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. He wouldn’t have had far to travel either, with Eton sitting just a few miles from Forest Lodge in Windsor, the family’s home since last year.
It may not even have been his first trip home since starting. Eton also runs an optional “B Weekend”, which fell on 19 and 20 September this year, allowing pupils to leave after Saturday commitments and return by Sunday evening.
Why it matters
George’s move to Eton has been closely watched because it mirrors his father’s own schooldays. Prince William boarded at Eton from 1995 to 2000, and has spoken about how visits home – in his case to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at nearby Windsor Castle – helped him through the upheaval of starting boarding school while his parents’ marriage was breaking down.
“I remember many a quiet afternoon, having tea with her and my grandfather at the castle, chatting, sharing stories, and seeing how completely at ease she was here,” William said of his grandmother in a past tribute, recalling it as one of his “fondest memories” of her.
Royal author Robert Lacey has written that the late Queen, concerned for a 13-year-old William settling into Eton while “alone” following his parents’ separation, began inviting him up to the castle on weekends when other boys went home – lunches Prince Philip reportedly helped set up to prepare William for his future role.
George arrived at Eton with William and Kate by his side, after previously attending Lambrook School near Windsor alongside Charlotte and Louis. He was greeted by headmaster Simon Henderson and provost Sir Nicholas Coleridge, with Kate pictured placing a hand on her son’s back as they helped him settle into his new room – reportedly furnished simply with a single bed, a desk and shelves, like every other first-year boy’s.
Founded by King Henry VI in 1440, Eton charges fees reported at around £65,000 a year and has educated 20 British prime ministers, including Boris Johnson and David Cameron, as well as actors such as Hugh Laurie, Damian Lewis and Tom Hiddleston. Prince Harry also boarded there before William’s younger brother Prince Archie and sister Princess Lilibet – Harry and Meghan’s children – were due to start new schools in the UK this term, though which schools remain unconfirmed.
What happens next
With one exeat weekend now behind him, George faces a term of settling into Eton’s traditions, from wearing the school’s tailcoat and waistcoat to learning the “colours” of its 25 boarding houses for an early test by older pupils. As second in line to the throne, his progress at the school is expected to remain a point of public interest, much as his father’s was three decades earlier.
