Prince George will remain without a smartphone at boarding school. He turned 13 on 22 July. He will start at Eton College in September. He will study there for five years. He is expected to be there until 18, till July 2031.
Both Prince Williama and studied at Eton College. In fact, William was the first senior member of the royal family to attend the school.
First-year Etonians aren’t permitted smartphones, according to reports. Eton will instead provide basic “brick” phones without internet access. These allow calls and texts with family outside school hours.
The school introduced this rule following a device policy review. It aims to balance technology’s benefits against its potential challenges. This mirrors the existing no-smartphone rule at home already.
has previously said none of his children owns smartphones. He described being very strict about this particular household rule.
William later admitted that protecting children from social media would prove genuinely difficult. He discussed this challenge during a November 2025 trip to Brazil.
“Our children don’t have phones. I think when George moves on to secondary school, then maybe he might have a phone that has no internet access. And, to be honest, it’s getting to the point where it’s becoming a little bit of a, like, tense issue,” he said at that time.
“But I think he understands why. We communicate why we don’t think it’s right. And, again, I think it’s the internet access I have a problem with. I think children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online, and so having a phone and text message, the old sort of ‘brick phone’ as they call them, I think that’s fine,” he added.
Prince George’s birthday Photo
William and Kate celebrated Prince George’s birthday with a new official portrait. They also shared a behind-the-scenes video on Instagram separately.
The young prince was captured casually spending time outdoors. This reflects a more relaxed approach to presenting the Royal Family.
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond discussed this shift with the Mirror. She highlighted how Prince William and would treat their children.
They use first names only, without formal royal titles attached. According to Bond, this sets a deliberately new, less pompous tone. She linked this approach to William’s vision of being “royal with a small r”.
This year’s birthday content offered two contrasting styles simultaneously. One video showed George holidaying playfully alongside his siblings. The other featured a smarter portrait of George wearing a suit.
This year’s portrait differs from previous birthday photographs released. Last year’s image showed George dressed casually in the Norfolk countryside.
The latest photo instead presents him formally dressed and posed. This contrasts with the more relaxed images previously released of Charlotte and Louis.
Bond suggested George’s shift toward formality carried particular symbolic meaning. Both the video and portrait were shared alongside affectionate birthday messages.
“I suspect this tradition will continue…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. And so it has been a highly successful tactic,” she told the publication.
