His Royal Shyness’s first day at school
HE set off from home with a big grin and a skip in his step.
But by the time Prince George arrived at school for his first day yesterday, the nerves seemed to have kicked in.
As Prince William dropped him off at £20,000-a-year Thomas’s school in Battersea, the four-year-old clutched his father’s hand and glanced up at him anxiously.
George looked smart in his perfectly-pressed uniform and polished black loafers – with his blonde hair neatly combed to the side. But boys will be boys – even princes – and there was no hiding the start of a shiner and two small cuts under his right eye.
The Duchess of Cambridge, 35, who it was announced this week is pregnant again, was forced to miss his big day due to acute morning sickness. An aide said she was ‘desperately disappointed’. Instead William, 35, took his son alone with a small security detail.
Kensington Palace last night released the photo of the pair leaving home. William drove George in the family Range Rover – and despite the risk of traffic, the 3.5-mile journey through London took just 19 minutes.
They arrived at the school discreetly through a side entrance. Holding his son’s backpack, which had his name on it, William gave his son some words of encouragement as they walked to meet lower school headmistress Helen Haslem. George bit his lip and rubbed his face nervously, but when William encouraged him to shake hands with the teacher, he did so perfectly.
William, like other parents, stayed for around forty minutes as his son settled in his classroom. Later, he admitted to guests at a Kensington Palace reception that he and Kate had been ‘a little worried’ about
their son, but added: ‘Stressful day, going a school run. But it was really nice actually. It went well. There was one other parent who had more of an issue with their children – so I was quite pleased I wasn’t the one.’
William was due to pick up his son at lunchtime as younger pupils only come in for half days to start with. George’s low-key first day at school was very different from his father’s as only a few media sources were allowed to record it – while William and Harry had faced hundreds of photographers when dropped off at school by Diana.
Ben Thomas, who was headmaster of Thomas’s Battersea for 18 years and is now principal of Thomas’s London Day Schools, said George would be treated like any other pupil. And he’s already got a friendly face to help him settle in, as his cousin Maud, four – daughter of Prince Michael of Kent’s son Lord Freddie Windsor – started at the school yesterday too.