Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Strict Rule at Home Is Also Enforced at Prince George’s New School

Eton College recently made a change to their technology policy

Kate Middleton and Prince William previously revealed that their three children don’t have smartphones, and that won’t change for Prince George when he starts at boarding school this fall.

The Prince and Princess of Wales’ eldest son, who celebrated his 13th birthday on July 22, is heading to Eton College in September. Despite all students living at the school full-time, first-year Etonians are not allowed to have smartphones, according to The Telegraph.

The BBC reported in 2024 that Eton would provide Year 9 pupils, which George will be this fall, with basic “brick” phones without internet access, so they could communicate with their families via calls and texts outside school hours.

Eton College said the decision came after a review of its phone and devices policy, with the ban on smartphones for first-year students made “to balance the benefits and challenges that technology brings to schools.”

Prince William and Princess Kate, both 44, will no doubt be fans of the no-smartphones rule, as it’s one that they also enforce at home for Prince George and his younger siblings, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8.

During a chat with actor Eugene Levy on the Apple TV+ series The Reluctant Traveler that aired last year, Prince William revealed, “None of our children have any phones, which we’re very strict about.”

The subject came up again during the Prince of Wales’ November 2025 trip to Brazil for the Earthshot Prize awards. Speaking with TV host Luciano Huck, the royal heir admitted it’s “really hard” to protect his children from the harms of social media.

 

Xem bài viết này trên Instagram

 

Bài viết do The Prince and Princess of Wales (@princeandprincessofwales) chia sẻ

“Our children don’t have phones. I think when George moves on to secondary school, then maybe he might have a phone that has no internet access,” William said. “And to be honest, it’s getting to the point where it’s becoming a little bit of a, like, tense issue.”

“But I think he understands why,” Prince William continued. “We communicate why we don’t think it’s right. And again, I think it’s the internet access I have a problem with. I think children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online, and so having a phone and text message, the old sort of ‘brick phone’ as they call them, I think that’s fine.”

In addition to being used to not having a phone, Prince George has already practiced living away from home by doing some boarding at Lambrook School, where Charlotte and Louis continue to attend. A recent report from the Daily Mail claims it was George’s idea to try it.

“They agreed. It helped him grow, to be part of a collective,” royal reporter Robert Jobson told the outlet.

And in addition to spending the summer with friends and family, Prince George may already be studying. One of George’s first challenges at Eton will be the “colours test,” where he will be quizzed on the school’s 25 boarding houses as well as the school’s building locations.

Writer and Eton College alumnus Hugo Vickers once said in a piece for The Times, “Hardly had you arrived than you faced a colour test. You had to learn all the house colours and various archaic Eton names for a test by ‘the library.’ I irritated one questioner by knowing where the sheep dip was. He thought he could catch me out.”

While many options were explored for Prince George’s future school, a source close to the family told PEOPLE, “George has always wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps.”

Founded in 1440 by King Henry VI, the all-boys boarding school has educated generations of leaders, including 20 prime ministers and other royals. Come September, Prince George will become the latest prince to don Eton’s iconic black tailcoat, waistcoat and pin-striped trousers.

“Yes, Eton stands for tradition, but it has moved with the times and now has a more diverse student body than it had—even in William’s day,” says royal author Sally Bedell Smith. “I think their decision hinges on the school’s academic excellence and the many ways it develops its students for leadership roles.”

Credit: People