King Charles’s touching move for Princess Charlotte revealed as royals return to school

King Charles is a doting grandfather of five, affectionately known as ‘Grandpa Wales’ by Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. 

It’s now been revealed that the monarch has taken steps to make a major change to his Sandringham estate, which will hugely benefit his sporty granddaughter Charlotte.

Charles and 11-year-old Charlotte have a special bond. The King has been spotted wearing friendship bracelets made by the princess, and during a visit to Northern Ireland in May 2026, he picked up a sweet present for her.

Charles was given a beaded bag charm for Charlotte by Rachel Rose, the owner of the jewelry company Empower Flower. “Thank you, she will love that,” delighted Charles said as he received the gift.

King Charles’s thoughtful gesture

Given their sweet connection, the King’s latest move perhaps comes as no surprise. 

It’s been revealed that he has made the decision to upgrade the cricket pitch on his Norfolk estate – where the Wales’s have their home, Anmer Hall.

Charlotte is a keen cricketer – as was shown in a family video released by proud Prince William and Princess Kate in celebration of her 11th birthday earlier this year.

The clip showed Charlotte playing cricket and running with Prince Louis on a sandy beach in Cornwall, and experts were quick to praise her impressive run-up and fast bowling technique, with some even joking that the England team might have a future royal recruit.

The Monarch now wants to install a 9,000 artificial pitch at Sandringham & Dersingham Cricket Club on his Norfolk estate, with the planning application to King’s Lynn Council stating the new facility would “provide high-quality, weather-resilient practice and playing capacity for the club’s junior and senior members without overburdening the main grass square”.

It further says the artificial pitch would provide an all-weather facility, which would increase “playing and training hours for the local community” and also protect “the natural turf square during wet weather or heavy use”.

Princess Charlotte following in Princess Kate’s footsteps

Of course, cricket isn’t Charlotte’s only sporty habit – she loves gymnastics and ballet, and also enjoys playing soccer and swimming. It was also revealed in August that the Princess plays in an out-of-school netball team that competes at a high level across England. 

She also isn’t the only royal to have shown some skill in front of the wickets.

Her mum Princess Kate has been happy to have a go on official engagements – in one instance, during a visit to New Zealand’s Christchurch – in high heels! And in 2019, both she and William joined a group of children in playing a friendly game of cricket in Pakistan on the fourth day of their tour of the country.

Just like Charlotte, Kate is a major sports fan and has taken part in all kinds of activities, from rugby training to abseiling and archery.

She captained her hockey team at Marlborough College and still loves to pick up a stick, and is a passionate tennis player, often attending and serving as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. 

The future Queen also enjoys sailing, cold water swimming, and skiing.

Charlotte and Louis head back to school

Last week, the royals’ summer break officially came to an end, and William and Kate’s three children headed back to school.

Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight, are now in Year 7 and Year 4 respectively at Lambrook School in Berkshire, a short drive from their Windsor home.

Lambrook is a co-educational preparatory school in Berkshire that accepts boys and girls aged 3 to 13 years old (from Nursery through to Year 8). That means that Charlotte has just two more years left before she too will move on to secondary education.

Already there is speculation about where she will attend – but one thing is for sure, she won’t be joining her big brother Prince George at Eton.

Charlotte’s secondary school – and why she won’t join George

Prince George reached a major milestone last week. He started up at Eton College, following in the footsteps of his father Prince William, who attended from 1995 until 2000.

The prestigious boarding school is a stone’s throw from Windsor Castle, making it ideally positioned for the young royal. But he won’t be joined by his sister; Eton is an all-boys facility. Instead, it has been suggested that Charlotte could attend Marlborough College, a leading co-educational full boarding and day school in Wiltshire for pupils aged 13 to 18.

Princess Kate and her sister Pippa Middleton famously attended, as did Princess Eugenie, Samantha Cameron and comedian Jack Whitehall.

‘Bright’ Prince George set to thrive at Eton

Proud parents Prince William and Princess Kate were by Prince George’s side as he arrived for his first day at Eton – and it’s likely that the pair are expecting their son to excel at the historic institution.

Speaking on HELLO!’s A Right Royal Podcast, HELLO!’s royal editor, Emily Nash, stated that the Princess would not have allowed her eldest son to head to Eton if she didn’t think he could handle it.

She explained: “I think what William and Catherine have done is they’ve chosen the school that is right for him, and they’ll choose the school that’s right for each individual child. This is not like a one size fits all, is it?

“They know better than anyone else what their personalities are like, what their interests are like, which sports are best provided for at which school. And we know they’ve done so much research on this.”

“It really does show that George is a smart kid because I don’t think you get into Eton anymore just off the back of who your parents are. I genuinely don’t think that in this day and age, they could put someone into Eton and get them through in the way that may have happened in previous generations.

“Catherine is on it in terms of his education. I don’t think they would put him in a place where he would feel he wasn’t able to keep up.”