He turned up in home clothes first, dark trousers and a jacket, shirt and tie, and the family came in through the arch beneath Lupton’s Tower, the 16th century gatehouse. Kate held an umbrella across the school yard. William carried his folded instead.<\/p>\n
Waiting for George were headmaster Simon Henderson and provost Sir Nicholas Coleridge. According to CNN<\/a>, <\/a>Henderson told George, “Welcome. Good luck. Enjoy it.”<\/p>\n Why Prince George’s Eton uniform looks the way it does The future king in a black tailcoat, waistcoat and pinstriped trousers, the uniform Eton College formally calls School Dress.<\/p>\n (Matt Porteous\/Kensington Palace)<\/p>\n Later in the day, George changed into what the school formally calls School Dress: black tailcoat, waistcoat, pinstriped trousers, and a stiff white collar worn over a white shirt.\u00a0<\/a>Eton College<\/a> defines the term with almost comic understatement, “The School uniform, often referred to as ‘tails’.”<\/p>\n That’s the outfit in the portrait Kensington Palace released. It’s also nearly the same outfit William wore in 1995, which is why the two images keep getting compared side by side across social media.<\/p>\n The Eton words Prince George likely had to learn<\/p>\n Here’s part of many things that make Eton stand out from other schools. George will now become fluent in a private dialect. Eton’s official glossary<\/a> shares the language used for aspects of being a student at the school.<\/p>\n A teacher is a “Beak,” defined simply as “An Eton Master (teacher).” A term isn’t a term. “The academic year is divided into three Halves (terms): Michaelmas, Lent and Summer.” A lesson is a “div.” Morning break is “Chambers,” described as “A mid-morning break of 25 minutes when boys return to their Houses for a snack, and Masters gather together for a meeting, normally in Upper School.”<\/p>\n Do brilliant work and you get a Show Up. “If a boy does a particularly good piece of work, his Division Master may give him a Show Up.” Do the opposite and you get a rip. “If a boy does a particularly bad piece of work, his Division Master may give him a ‘rip’.”<\/p>\n If a student arrives for class late, there’s a book with their name in it. The Tardy Book is “A sanction for late work or arriving late to a lesson. It involves signing a book in the School Office early in the morning.” End of term exams are “Trials,” or “End-of-Half examinations.” And unless he wins a King’s Scholarship, George is an “Oppidan,” which the school defines as “Any boy who is not a Colleger.”<\/p>\n Will the future king will be late for a div at some point this year? Most students are. If he is, he’ll be signing the Tardy Book like everyone else.<\/p>\n Inside Prince George’s Eton boarding house<\/p>\n Eton runs on its houses, and the numbers are specific. The school<\/a> says there are 25 boarding houses with “approximately 55 boys in each Boarding House and on average 11 boys in each Block (year group),” and that “Every boy has their own room from the start.”<\/p>\n New arrivals are F Block, Year 9, and the school is explicit about who’s responsible for settling them. “Older boys play a key role in welcoming the new F Block (Year 9) into the House community and in providing positive role models for the whole House.”<\/p>\n Each boy also gets a tutor, who Eton says<\/a> “assists the House Master in overseeing the boy’s academic progress and fostering his development and general well-being.” And every house has a Dame, one of the more misunderstood roles in British education. “The Dame assists the House Master in running their boarding House, working in partnership to ensure the overall welfare and wellbeing of boys in the House.”<\/p>\n Home isn’t far. Melanie Sanderson, managing editor of the Good Schools Guide, pointed out the geography to Hello!<\/a>. She said, “You can see Eton College from Windsor Castle. So that would be lovely for George to be able to pop home”<\/p>\n How much Eton College costs in 2026<\/p>\n Eton publishes its fees<\/a> openly. For 2026 it’s \u00a321,891 per half, which works out to \u00a365,673 a year including VAT, and the school notes that “All relevant fees and charges will be subject to the prevailing VAT rate.”<\/p>\n Eton also states that it “warmly welcomes bursary applications from parents who might, under ordinary circumstances, not consider Eton for their son for financial reasons,” with every application “subject to a detailed means-test.”<\/p>\n Prince William’s first day at Eton, 31 years earlier<\/p>\n William started Eton College in September 1995 and stayed five years. Harry followed three years later. Both are part of an alumni list that, as CNN<\/a> notes, includes 20 British prime ministers alongside Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Eddie Redmayne.<\/p>\n For William, the choice was personal rather than institutional. Nash explained, “For William, Eton was a haven during some of the most challenging periods of his childhood, and he is confident that it will be a supportive, nurturing environment for George, too.”<\/p>\n “William and Catherine hope that after sharing a glimpse of this major moment in their eldest son’s journey, he will be left alone to enjoy school without intrusion.”<\/p>\n![\"Full](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/prince-george-eton-school-dress-tailcoat-.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n