Since the birth of Prince George almost a year ago, Kate Middleton and Prince William have been stealing the show in the world of royal parenting. They manage their royal obligations alongside an admirable dedication to family life. With most managing the school run, putting their kids first every time. Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis currently all go to school at Lambrook School just outside Ascot. Their commitment to reprioritizing royal duties with child raising is indicative of a contemporary and evolving concept of royalty.
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex gets real about her parenting routine. She juggles drop-off duties for her kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet—sometimes with their nanny, sometimes alone. This workshare is required because her kids go to three different schools, making for a hectic schedule. Markle shared her dedication to the public charter school on the Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast, saying,
“If I don’t have meetings in the morning, then I try to do school drop off. They’re at two different schools, so that’s a big circuit.”
This key consciousness underlines the balancing test all parents must perform—even, apparently, parents on the British royal family.
“So from 6.30 in the morning on drop-off mornings for me, I’m not home till 9. And then after that, I’ll just jump into meetings. And then on other days, then I’ll wake up and get them all set, and then our amazing nanny, who’s been with us for five years, she’ll take them to school.”
Unlike the public engagements of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sussex, the Duchess of Edinburgh has kept her children’s school routine largely private. Her choice embodies an effort to protect normalcy for her children, out of the media spotlight.
The royal family’s legacy of education started with Princess Diana. She was beloved for her motherly care and devotion to raising her many children. Diana frequently accompanied her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, during their school runs to Wetherby School in Notting Hill. This intimate level of engagement set a model of radically engaging in their children’s education.
In more recent times, the Duchess of Cambridge, formerly Kate Middleton, has carried on this tradition. She has been seen many times around London, chicly attired for the school run. Just last week, she killed it in a Michael Kors floral frock paired with some fun navy heels. Her style journey as a mom chicly shows off her identity as a youthful royal while catering to the needs of someone with young children.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte are now students at Thomas’s Battersea School in London. At the same time, Prince Louis joined his brothers at Lambrook School. The family’s dedication to education shows through their advanced planning around school hours. During Kate’s cancer treatment last year, Prince William made significant adjustments to his engagements to accommodate school drop-off and pick-up times.
In addition to the current royal parents, Sarah, Duchess of York, made a memorable appearance during her daughter Princess Eugenie’s first day at Upton School in Windsor back in 1994. Today’s action is a good opportunity to reflect on the ways royal parental figures have long involved themselves in their offspring’s education.
Both Princess Eugenie and her sister Princess Beatrice were pupils here at Upton School. This highlights the long-standing custom of instruction in the royal household. The dedication to educating the next generation has not wavered. Each generation meets their own set of distinct challenges head on.
In their modern, daily balancing of public and personal responsibilities, today’s royals are still setting great examples with their hands-on approach to family life. For many families, the school run has become an immersive experience that reinforces the values of normalcy and purpose.
As modern royals navigate their public lives alongside personal responsibilities, they continue to set examples of family involvement. The school run has become an integral part of their routines—one that emphasizes both normalcy and duty.
