Prince William and Kate Middleton Use a “Successful Tactic” With Prince George to Help Him Be “Left Alone” by Photographers
Prince William and Kate Middleton Use a “Successful Tactic” With Prince George to Help Him Be “Left Alone” by Photographers
Rachel BurchfieldSun, July 26, 2026 at 2:11 PM UTC
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Prince William, Prince George, and Princess Kate on Easter Sunday 2026.Credit: GettyThe Gist -
Prince George is headed off to Eton College in September, meaning that he will no longer be under Prince William and Kate Middleton’s roof most of the time.
Royal editor Victoria Ward explained that the Prince and Princess of Wales have a “relatively small window” to shape George for his life and future before he heads off to boarding school.
Former BBC royal commentator Jennie Bond also explained how William and Kate releasing a birthday photo for their three children each year—as they did for George’s 13th on July 22—has proven to be a “successful tactic.”
In September, Prince George is headed off to secondary school at Eton College—and, while his parents Prince William and Kate Middleton will of course still have influence over him, he will no longer be under their roof most of the time. Throughout his life, they have fiercely tried to protect George and his siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis—including employing a “successful tactic” to help photographers largely leave them alone.
Prince William, Princess Charlotte, Princess Kate, Prince Louis, and Prince George at Trooping the Colour on June 13, 2026.Credit: Getty
Speaking on The Telegraph’s “Daily T” podcast, the outlet’s deputy royal editor Victoria Ward explained that the Prince and Princess of Wales have a “relatively small window” to shape George’s life. Ward said that for “the last 13 years, they’ve made family life…the priority,” she said (per Marie Claire). William and Kate, she added, have “always known that he’s eventually going to go to boarding school at 13. So they’ve got this relatively small window to shape this man.”
“William often talks about his mental toolkit, doesn’t he?” Ward said alongside fellow royal experts Camilla Tominey and India McTaggart. “And I feel like…they want to give George and the others these tools to be able to take on this life of duty when they’re a bit older.”
Princess Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis on June 13, 2026.Credit: Getty
George turned 13 years old on July 22, and former BBC royal commentator Jennie Bond told The Mirror that she noticed a detail in George’s birthday posts on social media that spoke volumes. The Prince and Princess of Wales shared both a new portrait of George—taken at Kensington Palace after last month’s Trooping the Colour by photographer Matt Porteous—and also a video of George on holiday with his family in Cornwall earlier this year.
Poignantly, in both of the posts, they referred to the future king only as “George”—and not Prince George. In birthday posts earlier this year for George’s siblings Charlotte and Louis, they too were only referred to by their first names and not their royal titles.
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“I love the fact that they refer to him—and their other children—simply by their Christian names, without the formality or pomposity of using their titles,” Bond said. “It sets a new tone, a tone that William has spoken about—being royal with a small ‘r.’”
“For William and Catherine, it is a way of protecting their children, and it is working well,” she added. “That’s partly because the pictures are clearly quite relaxed and informal. And this year we got a bit of both—the fun video of George on holiday with his siblings, and the much smarter one in his suit, happily without his tie.”
“These pictures will be part of the history books, so I suppose it’s important to start seeing this lovely young boy as a future king,” Bond continued. “And seeing him in his suit helps mark his transition from child to teenager.”
Prince William and Prince George on July 12, 2026.Credit: Getty
Bond told The Mirror that she suspects “this tradition will continue because it’s part of a bargain whereby one or two excellent images are released to keep us all informed about how George is doing—and then he is left alone.”
“Over the years, the photos have shown a young boy smiling and laughing, happy and confident—far better pictures than a bank of press photographers could have achieved,” she added. “And so it has been a highly successful tactic.”
on InStyle
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
