The Prince and Princess of Wales’s children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, eight, are among the thousands of youngsters who will break for the summer holidays soon. The royal siblings attend Lambrook Prep School in Berkshire, with George finishing up his time at the preparatory school and beginning his secondary studies at Eton College in September.
While George, Charlotte and Louis have always had royal titles from birth, they don’t actually use these at school. Instead, the royal children are known simply as George Wales, Charlotte Wales and Louis Wales to their school friends, in a nod to their parents’ titles, the Prince and Princess of Wales, which they were given following Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September 2022.
When William and Kate were known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, their children used Cambridge as a last name at their previous schools. This was also the case for Prince William and Prince Harry, who took on their father Charles’s former title Wales as their surname when they were at school.
George, Charlotte and Louis, are currently in Year 8, Year 6 and Year 3 respectively at school. After much speculation, it’s been announced that George will follow in his father’s footsteps to attend Eaton College this Autumn.
Royal family’s surname
Members of the royal family often do not use a surname; they’re simply known by their title, name and His or Her Royal Highness. But the royal family’s website states: “At a meeting of the Privy Council on 17 July 1917, George V declared that ‘all descendants in the male line of Queen Victoria, who are subjects of these realms, other than female descendants who marry or who have married, shall bear the name of Windsor’.”
The royal family continued to use Windsor after Queen Elizabeth II’s accession in 1952. However, she decided with her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, that they would like their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the royal family – without changing the name of the Royal House.
It was therefore declared in the Privy Council that the Queen’s descendants, other than those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/Princess, or female descendants who marry, would carry the name of Mountbatten-Windsor.
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© James Veysey/ShutterstockThe Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, became the first royal to use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor following her birth in 2003. The university student is often listed as Louise Mountbatten-Windsor when she competes in carriage driving competitions.
Before being able to use their royal titles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s children were known as Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor. Since the accession of their grandfather, King Charles, in 2022, the youngsters have been entitled to use the title prince and princess as the children of a son of the monarch, as laid out by the letters patent issued to King George V in 1917. In March 2023, Prince Harry and Meghan confirmed that Archie and Lilibet’s titles would be used in formal settings, but not in everyday conversation.
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