The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
William hails smooth first day at school for George
Fouryear-old prince has started classes in south London
The Duke of Cambridge has said Prince George’s first day at school went smoothly after he was forced to manage parenting duties alone.
The Duchess of Cambridge had hoped to join William on the school run but is suffering from severe morning sickness and was too ill to attend, Kensington Palace said.
But William said the day “went well” and joked that he was pleased another parent had problems with their children rather than him.
He made the comments at a Kensington Palace reception for the England Under-20 football team – just hours after dropping his four-year-old son at Thomas’s Battersea, a fee-paying independent school in south London.
The duke told head coach Paul Simpson it had been a “good day”.
He said: “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 added: “It was really nice actually. It’s a nice school.”
The prince, who will be known as George Cambridge to his classmates, was helped out of the car by William after being driven inside the school gates at around 8.45am.
George, wearing a shirt, navy jumper, shorts and black shoes, looked tentative and clutched his father’s hand as he was led towards the entrance of the school.
The youngster shook hands with Helen Haslem, head of the lower school, as the duke held a school bag packed ready for his first day.
Then, with William holding one hand and Ms Has le mt he other, he walked inside.
Ben Thomas, who is principal of Thomas’s London Day Schools and was headmaster of Thomas’s Battersea for 18 years, said he hoped future king George would learn to “be himself”.
He said: “The whole aim of these precious early years of education is to give children that confidence in who they are.
“So we are not going to try to mould him into any kind of particular person and we wouldn’t do that with any of our pupils.
“I hope he will have the confidence to be himself with all his quirks and his idiosyncrasies and characteristics.”
George spent his first day getting to know teachers and other children as well as completing the important task of finding his classroom peg.