‘He would rub shoulders with a much broader cross-section of his future subjects’: Labor MP says Prince William should break with tradition and send Prince George to a state school, rather than Eton, which receives £46,000 a year anus
- Labor MP Clive Lewis said Prince William should send George to a public school
- Party sources have discussed the ‘optics’ of George following his father to Eton
Prince William should break with royal family tradition by sending Prince George to a state school, a Labor MP has said.
The call from Norwich MP Clive Lewis comes as Labor sources have discussed the “optics” of George following his father to Eton at a time when the party hopes to be in Government after next year’s election, and whether the Prince of Wales could be ‘pushed’. ‘ in making a different choice for nine-year-old George.
It is understood that the Princess of Wales would prefer her eldest son to attend a coeducational school such as his alma mater, Marlborough College, where fees are £42,500.
Eton, where fees are £46,296 a year, is facing questions over whether it would admit girls for the first time since it was founded in 1440.
Sir Keir Starmer has said that a Labor government would add VAT to school fees, raising Eton fees to over £55,000 at current values.
TRADITION: Prince William should break with royal family tradition by sending Prince George to a state school, a Labor MP has said. Pictured: Prince George (left) with siblings Princess Charlotte (right) and Prince Louis (centre) accompanied by their parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as they arrive to settle in Lambrook for the afternoon School near Ascot in Berkshire in September of last year.
Labor MP Clive Lewis (pictured) said that while the decision on whether George went to Eton was “a matter for his parents”, he added: “There is an argument for him going to public school.”
Lewis said that while the decision on whether George went to Eton was “a matter for his parents”, he added: “There is an argument for him going to a public school.”
He said: “He is a future king and I would suggest that at a public school he would rub shoulders with a much broader cross-section of his future subjects than at Eton.”
George, along with 7-year-old Princess Charlotte and 4-year-old Prince Louis, currently attend the £12,000 a year Lambrook School in Windsor, a secondary school for Eton.
Lambbrook’s 52-acre grounds are home to several peacocks, with extracurricular activities including feeding chickens and lambs, as well as polo and beekeeping. There is also a cricket pavilion and a nine-hole golf course.
Prince William enrolled at Wetherby Preparatory School and then Ludgrove School in Berkshire, before attending Eton from 1995 to 2000.
King Charles’s school days at Gordonstoun in Scotland, the remote and austere public school his father Prince Philip attended, were famously unhappy. He called his time at the school “a prison sentence”, calling the school “Colditz in kilts”.
A Labor source says: “The last thing Keir wants is a falling out with royalty, but voices around him are murmuring that it would be ‘good looks’ if William decided not to send George to the world’s most famous elite school at one point. in which we are increasing costs that are already impressive.’
Labor sources have discussed the ‘optic’ of George following his father to Eton College (pictured) at a time when the party hopes to be in government after next year’s election.
George, along with 7-year-old Princess Charlotte and 4-year-old Prince Louis, currently attend the £12,000 a year Lambrook School (pictured) in Windsor, a secondary school for Eton
Winchester-educated Rishi Sunak accused Sir Keir of “attacking the aspiration of millions of working people” by pledging to remove the charity status of private schools, which would mean they would lose their VAT exemptions and have to pay business fees .
If they lose status, it is estimated that more than 90,000 children would have to switch from private to public schools because their parents would be out of pocket.
The measure has been called a “class warfare” tax, which would restrict access for all but the children of the super-rich.
But Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves says private school fees should be taxed in the same way as eating out, insisting that ‘every penny’ of the profits from Labor’s plan to impose VAT on Independent school fees would be spent on state education.
