Lambrook: the private prep school fit for a king

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have announced they are sending all three of their children to Lambrook school near Windsor.

Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, are to be enrolled at what Lambrook itself describes as “a leading co-educational Prep School for 615 boys and girls aged 3-13”. It is just a short distance from Adelaide Cottage, the family’s new residence near Windsor Castle.

In a statement, a royal source said the move by William and Kate was “made to give their children the ‘most normal’ start possible”. Their previous home at Kensington Palace “can be a little bit of a fishbowl”, the source said, so “they wanted to be able to give George, Charlotte and Louis a bit more freedom than they have living in central London”, Sky News reported.

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History of Lambrook

Founded in 1860 as a school for tutoring courtiers at Windsor Castle, Lambrook was initially a boarding school for boys but began admitting day pupils in 1992, with girls following shortly after.

Pupils are divided into four houses, named Alexander, Athlone, Dewar and Goodhart after four donors who funded Haileybury, a sister school to Lambrook, said The Times.

“While it is not as well-known to the public for its royal links as the likes of Eton, Gordonstoun, Wetherby or Ludgrove, where Prince William and Prince Harry were taught, it has some historic ties through Queen Victoria,” said The Telegraph.

It boasts two of her grandsons, Prince Christian Victor and Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, as early alumni and it is believed Queen Victoria used to travel to the school to watch them perform in plays and take part in cricket matches.

Other famous alumni

As well as its royal connections, former students also include Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, the poet best known as Oscar Wilde’s lover, and two sons of the former prime minister Herbert Asquith.

The facilities

Set in a white stucco country house in 52 acres of grounds, the school has a 25-metre swimming pool, astroturf pitches, tennis courts and a performing arts studio, as well as an orchard, woodland and even a nine-hole golf course.

Extra-curricular activities on offer include scuba diving, cookery classes, songwriting, sewing, fencing and tap dancing.

Fees

According to The Times, fees at the Berkshire school increase with the age of the child, so the annual bill will be £13,167 for Prince Louis, £19,344 for Charlotte and £20,997 for George.

It costs an extra £4,443 to board from the age of seven. The paper added that the school “tends to educate the children of wealthy business executives”.

Fit for the royals

According to The Telegraph, the Christian private school “makes a particular virtue of ‘compassion’, ‘family values’ and asking children to be ‘outward looking, using their gifts for the benefit of others’”. It therefore “fits with the Duke and Duchess’s own parenting ethos, in which they encourage their three children into outdoor play, talking about feelings, and looking after the environment”.

Nina Dempsey, also in The Telegraph, said that, among Berkshire’s circle of prep schools, Lambrook is regarded as “very respectable yet not one of the posh ones”. It is similar then to Thomas’s Battersea, which both George and Charlotte have attended and “which was considered an off-piste choice for the Cambridges”. Nearby Ludgrove is likely to have been ruled out as it only takes boys.

It is thought the decision by William and Kate to move to the Windsor estate “will not only prepare Prince George for the next stage of his schooling but also provide the entire family with the kind of countryside life that they love so much”, reported People.

However, while they are retaining homes at Kensington Palace and Anmer Hall in Norfolk, their decision to use another property, Adelaide Cottage, during the current cost of living crisis “may bring criticism from those who question how the Royal Family is funded”, said Sky News.