Prince George takes first day at Eton in his stride

As heavy rain fell and the Prince of Wales tried and failed to open an umbrella, it was Prince George who led the way.

Quickly, confidently, he strode very slightly ahead of his parents across the schoolyard of Eton, ready for his first day.

Just like each 13-year-old new boy arriving at the boarding school for Michaelmas, he wore his own clothes and extended a polite handshake to the headmaster, who told him “welcome”, “good luck”, and “enjoy”.

For George alone, it was also a moment captured for the history books.

It is the third such stroll into a new school for the Prince, in front of a carefully managed, quiet, small handful of press.

As a 4-year-old starting at Thomas’, George clutched his father’s hand and tried to hide behind his arm. As a 9-year-old at Lambrook, he held his mother’s hand and shuffled a little nervously as he waited.

On the pathway at Eton, where boys study under the motto Floreat Etona!, he already looked ready to flourish.

“I’m ready,” he told Simon Henderson, the headmaster who formed a welcome party with Sir Nicholas Coleridge, the college’s provost.

Henderson offered advice in return. “You’re going to have an amazing time,” he said. “Start off trying everything and you’ll find your way.”

As a church bell pealed, there was inevitable small talk about the weather.

“Shame about the weather,” said the Princess of Wales, dressed in green with an umbrella of her own.

“Typical,” replied Coleridge, while William – perhaps mindful of the summer heatwave – shrugged, saying that “we’ve been waiting for rain for ages”.

George wore a dark blazer, shirt, tie and chinos with brown suede shoes for his arrival at the Berkshire boarding school.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.