Prince William and Kate Middleton’s kids reportedly do not use their official names at school.
After marrying in April 2011, the royal couple had three children: Prince George, 13, born in 2013, Princess Charlotte, 11, born in 2015, and Prince Louis, 8, born in 2018.
Charlotte and Louis currently attend Lambrook Prep School, while George started classes at Eton College, both in Berkshire.
Instead of using their royal-styled names, the three kids are enrolled under slightly different names, following a long-running British Royal Family tradition.
George, Charlotte, and Louis use their parents’ title at school
The children go by George Wales, Charlotte Wales, and Louis Wales at school, according to Hello! magazine.
“Wales” refers to their parents’ titles, the Prince and Princess of Wales, which King Charles III gave them on September 9, 2022, a day after Elizabeth II’s passing.
The title is generally used by the heir and heiress apparent to the throne at any given time, and their children may use the “Wales” last name at educational institutions.
William and Harry also used “Wales” as their last name in school and in the British armed forces, since Elizabeth was Queen and their father, Charles, was Prince of Wales at the time.
Before Charles’ ascension to the throne, William and Kate were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, a title they still hold.
Hence, before 2022, their children were enrolled as George Cambridge, Charlotte Cambridge, and Louis Cambridge.
Prince George could face a challenge at Eton that his father and uncle didn’t
Matt Porteus / Courtesy of Kensington Palace
When William and Kate lived at Kensington Palace, George and Charlotte attended Thomas’s Battersea School in London, close to their home.
After the family moved to Windsor in August 2022, shortly before Queen Elizabeth II’s demise, all three kids started attending Lambrook.
The move brought them closer to both Kate and William’s families. It also gave the children “more breathing space” and the chance at a “normal childhood” as they got older, senior royal contributor Victoria Murphy told ABC News at the time.
In September 2026, George started his first year at Eton College, after his parents dropped him off last month.
The all-boys boarding school, the largest in England, was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. William and Harry both attended the college, with the latter recently revealing that he struggled with the academic environment and sports held him together.
Tim Graham, Matt Porteus / Courtesy of Kensington Palace
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield told Page Six in July that the teen’s “biggest challenge won’t be academics or making friends” but rather “balancing his privacy with the reality that every classmate has TikTok.”
“William and Harry attended before social media transformed adolescence. George won’t have that luxury,” she added.
The Royal Family’s actual surname was made up just a century ago
While royals referred to as His or Her Royal Highness (HRH) generally do not use a last name in daily life, their official surname is Mountbatten-Windsor.
Before 1917, members of the British Royal Family had no surname, but only the name of the house or dynasty to which they belonged, according to the official website.
Children took their father’s dynasty name. Queen Victoria’s eldest son Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the German family name of his father, Prince Albert.
In 1917, Edward VII’s son George V adopted the surname Windsor after their residential castle of the same name. Anti-German sentiments during the First World War forced the change.
Queen Elizabeth II created the hyphenated surname Mountbatten-Windsor in 1960 to distinguish the direct descendants of the Royal Family.
The prefix “Mountbatten” was the surname Prince Philip of Greece adopted when he became a naturalized British subject in 1947, before marrying Princess Elizabeth.
George may not inherit all of William’s titles when the latter becomes king
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When William eventually becomes the king, his eldest, George, will become the heir apparent, but will not inherit the Prince of Wales title by default.
Although it is the tradition, the historic title must still be specifically granted by the reigning monarch. However, he will directly become the Duke of Cornwall and other traditional Scottish titles associated with the heir, including Duke of Rothesay.
Princess Charlotte could one day become Princess Royal, a distinction traditionally bestowed on the monarch’s eldest daughter, but not until the demise of Princess Anne, who currently holds it for life.
Even after the title becomes available, the monarch would have to grant it to her formally.
No titles are specifically reserved for Louis, but William could bestow any dukedom on him. The Duke of York has historically been associated with the monarch’s second son.
Prince Andrew currently holds it, although he no longer uses his royal titles since the controversy surrounding his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
“Prince George looks very dapper,” one user reacted to the teen’s look before his first day at Eton College
