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Kate Middleton will not travel to her husband Prince William’s Earthshot Prize Awards in Singapore later this month, her office said, with a source saying she wanted to stay home to “support” her son Prince George, 10, who has exams that week.
Although the source declined to say which exams George was taking, the preliminary entrance exams for Eton College, known as ISEBs, occur at that time. Several other elite private schools use the exams.
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George has been spotted visiting Eton, which his father attended, and is widely expected to attend the school.
Boys hoping to enter the ancient single-sex establishment are required to take a 150-minute online verbal and mental reasoning exam in the October or November following their 10th birthday. George turned 10 in July.
Kate’s decision to focus on George’s educational needs instead of official duty will come as little surprise to those who know the princess.
One of her friends told The Daily Beast this week: “It is not exactly a state secret that she has three children aged 10, 8, and 5 on whom the future of the monarchy depends… Real people understand that you have to prioritize your children at that age, and you can’t both just go flying off to New York at the drop of a hat. The fact that [she and William] consistently receive very high approval ratings shows that the public get it.”
Kate’s decision not to travel was officially announced after the British tabloid the Mirror reported that she has made a decision to prioritize her children’s routine during term time. The Mirror said “Kate does not want to disturb the youngsters’ schooling and works hard to ensure the trio have a stable home life in preparation for their royal careers later down the line.”
A friend of Kate’s told The Daily Beast: “She is tirelessly working on behalf of the monarchy. The fact is that her youngest child is 5, so I don’t think she should be expected to hop on a plane every two minutes.”
On Thursday, Kate traveled to Kent to a children’s hospital, and on Tuesday she visited a Yorkshire textile mill.
The palace’s decision to brief that George has exams follows a series of press attacks on Kate suggesting she is lazy, including a barbed anonymous item in the Daily Mail this week suggesting that Kate was “a reluctant overseas traveller” and criticizing her for having made only two official overseas trips this year, one to attend the wedding of the crown prince of Jordan and another to watch England play Argentina at rugby in Marseille.
The Mail said there had been “high hopes” at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that Kate “would not only make more overseas visits but would also bring the children… but it seems that school and routine are now more important than helping the FCO” with its diplomatic efforts.
Earlier this month, William traveled alone to New York to reveal the 2023 Earthshot Prize finalists and took a jog around Central Park. But without the pizzazz that Kate brought to the last two Earthshot Awards—in Boston and London—the event, which hands out five £1 million prizes to technological innovations targeting the climate crisis, may struggle to cut through the media noise.
For now, it seems, George’s Eton exams come first.
