rince George has followed in his father’s footsteps by enrolling at Eton College, and the future heir to the throne will have a security detail just like his dad.
However, in the three decades since William attended Eton, security threats have changed, and George’s security detail will have to deal with issues that William’s protection team never had to face.
Speaking to Page Six, royal commentator Kinsey Schofield explained: “William and Harry attended before social media transformed adolescence. George won’t have that luxury. His security challenge isn’t just physical protection anymore. It’s protecting his privacy in an age where something can go viral in seconds.”
She added: “But I suspect every effort will be made to ensure his peers aren’t constantly reminded they’re standing next to a future king. When Prince William attended Eton, his protection officers dressed in plain clothes and blended into the background.
“That philosophy of being seen as little as possible is probably even more important today because teenagers are already growing up under the microscope of social media.”
Back in April, even though at that time it hadn’t been confirmed that George would be going to Eton, the educational institution reportedly started improving security for the teenage royal, with it being described as “beefed-up“.
George’s first day at Eton
George looked at ease as he was seen attending Eton with his parents on 9 September. In official photos, the young royal was seen wearing Eton’s traditional uniform, including a tailcoat, winged-collar and white tie.
The future heir to the throne even caught the giggles as his father struggled with an umbrella.
As the trio stepped out and onto the Berkshire institution’s historic quadrangle, William’s umbrella turned entirely inside out, causing him to abandon the use of his brolly and proceed to get wet in the downpour as they made their way across campus.
Although Eton will demand academic rigour, HELLO!’s royal editor, Emily Nash, revealed that his mother, the Princess of Wales, wouldn’t have allowed her eldest son to attend if he couldn’t handle the pressure.
© Getty Images“They know better than anyone else what their personalities are like, what their interests are like, which sports are best provided for at which school,” she shared. “And we know they’ve done so much research on this.”
Emily continued: “It really does show that George is a smart kid because I don’t think you get into Eton anymore just off the back of who your parents are. I genuinely don’t think that in this day and age, they could put someone into Eton and get them through in the way that may have happened in previous generations.
© Getty Images“Catherine is on it in terms of his education. I don’t think they would put him in a place where he would feel he wasn’t able to keep up.”
