Most people know them as Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, but at school, the three children of Prince William and Princess Kate go by something far more ordinary.
According to Hello! magazine, the royal siblings use the surname Wales in an academic setting, making them George Wales, Charlotte Wales and Louis Wales to their teachers and classmates.
The choice of surname follows longstanding royal tradition, as members of the royal family typically adopt their parents’ titles as their last names when in school or in the military, Prince William himself went through the same system as he was called William Wales throughout his time at Eton College, and Prince Harry was Harry Wales during his years there and later in military service.
Both surnames were a direct reflection of their father, King Charles, holding the title of Prince of Wales at the time.
The children’s surnames have actually shifted once before, in September 2022, they were known at school as George Cambridge, Charlotte Cambridge and Louis Cambridge, and when Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022, and King Charles ascended the throne, William and Kate were elevated to the Prince and Princess of Wales, automatically updating the children’s school surname to Wales.
The three children are currently spread across two schools as Charlotte, 11, and Louis, 8, both attend Lambrook Prep School in Berkshire, the same school Prince George attended before moving on.
George, now 13, has taken his biggest step yet, starting his first year at Eton College in September 2026, the same prestigious all-boys boarding school his father attended between 1995 and 2000, and where Harry followed from 1998 to 2003.
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield told Page Six that George’s biggest challenge won’t be academics or making friends but rather balancing privacy with the reality that every classmate has TikTok.
“William and Harry attended before social media transformed adolescence,” she noted. “George won’t have that luxury.”
Schofield added that George is expected to have his own room at Eton but will be immersed in a full social environment, and that having his father as a former student gives him a meaningful advantage in navigating the school’s culture and expectations.
“William knows where the pressure points are,” she said. “He understands the social dynamics, the academic expectations and the emotional challenges.”
