Prince George's height, not his crisp new blazer, broke the internet on his first day at Eton College. Photos of the future king walking alongside William and Kate showed him nearly as tall as his mother in heels. Posts across X and Instagram drew thousands of likes, with most royal watchers wondering where the time went and wishing him luck in this new chapter of his life.
His family is now walking a tightrope between giving him a normal boarding school life and managing scrutiny that went global within hours of the first photograph landing.
Eton College Explained: Why It's Not a University
A fair few commenters seemed to believe Eton College was a university, an easy slip for those outside Britain, where 'college' almost always means higher education. Plenty of UK secondary schools use 'college' in their name, so the word does not imply university at all.
Eton is a private boys' boarding school founded in 1440, taking pupils aged 13 to 18 across 25 boarding houses.
George has joined as a new boy in what is effectively Year 9, entering at the same age his father did, with pupils boarding on site seven days a week during term rather than coming and going daily.
Like father, like son!
— Belle (@RoyallyBelle_) September 8, 2026
Prince William and Prince George on their first day at Eton College, almost 30 years apart 📚 pic.twitter.com/AdaBMIfv68
Uniform, Photographer and First Day Reactions
George turned 13 in July and walked in his father Prince William's footsteps this week, later posing in the schoolyard in his uniform of tailcoat, pinstripe trousers and white shirt for Matt Porteous, the photographer regularly hired by the Wales family for milestone moments.
That formal 'school dress' has been standard at Eton for decades.
The photos triggered a wave of people online realising how much time has actually passed, with most commenters seemingly still picturing him as the small boy from his first day of primary school rather than a teenager starting secondary.
Look at Prince George now! From that tiny four-year-old starting his first day of school in 2017 to a very grown-up 13-year-old arriving at Eton today. 🥹
— Queen Esther (@XOQueenEsther) September 8, 2026
How have the years gone by so quickly? It honestly feels like yesterday that we saw little Prince George holding his dad’s… pic.twitter.com/nynfNC39SK
Fees, Slang and Daily Routine at Eton
Fees currently sit at £65,673 a year, and the school reports a large majority of GCSE entries at grades 8 to 9.
Pupils quickly pick up Eton's own vocabulary: teachers are called beaks, lessons are divs, exams are trials, and senior prefects are known as Pops.
The academic year runs across three terms called halves, Michaelmas (Sept–Dec), Lent (Jan–Apr) and Summer (Apr–Jul), and George's curriculum stretches from Latin and classical Greek to modern languages including Mandarin and Japanese.
New boys in his family's tradition are placed in Manor House, where William and Harry boarded; each has a private room that grows in size each year, with a housemaster and dame overseeing welfare.
Security, Privacy and Royal Precedent
New 'No Photography' signs have gone up around Eton's gates, banning press, onlookers and even fellow students from pointing cameras at pupils' faces near the grounds, part of a wider effort to protect students from high-profile families.
William and Harry both got through their years there largely free from media intrusion, and William and Kate will be hoping George gets the same treatment. He began by signing the school's centuries-old entrance book, echoing the moment in 1995 when a young William signed the same register with his parents and brother by his side.
Three decades on, George is retracing his father's exact steps through the same gates, only now with an internet audience convinced they are watching an adult rather than a schoolboy.
