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Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are embarking on a new school year that’s especially momentous.
The royal siblings returned to the classroom at the Lambrook School on Sept. 3, and the academic year ahead is the last that Prince William and Kate Middleton’s three children will all be enrolled there together.
Prince George, 12, will age out of the coeducational prep school next summer when he turns 13, with Prince William’s alma mater, Eton College, earmarked as the front-runner for where he might attend next.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, began at Lambrook when their family moved from London to Windsor in 2022, enrolling as day students at the private school in Berkshire. The trio’s first day at Lambrook came with new photos of the siblings attending a preview day with their parents.
The Prince and Princess of Wales/Instagram
“That chimes with William wanting to do things in a more modern way, putting all three children in the same school,” royal author Sally Bedell Smith tells PEOPLE in an exclusive cover story. “It’s a new direction — groundbreaking for the royal family.”
According to the school’s website, “The Lambrook experience combines first-class teaching and superb facilities with traditional values, set in the idyllic surroundings of 52 acres of beautiful Berkshire countryside.”
The school’s facilities include a “25-meter swimming pool, Astroturf, Hard Courts, a Diamond Jubilee Performing Arts Studio, Dance Studio and Sports Hall,” ideal offerings for the Prince and Princess of Wales’ sporty children.
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As George, Charlotte and Louis set off on a new school year, there’s another major change ahead for their family.
PEOPLE confirmed in August that the Prince and Princess of Wales’ family is moving from Adelaide Cottage to a new home called Forest Lodge before the end of the year. The move from the four-bedroom cottage to the eight-bedroom residence will be an upgrade, yet keep them within the same Windsor estate.
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Forest Lodge is said to be the family’s forever home, where they plan to stay even after Prince William accedes to the throne one day.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are funding renovations and the move themselves, making a change that will create a fresh start following a difficult year in which Princess Kate and King Charles were diagnosed with cancer.
The Princess of Wales announced in January that she is in remission, while the King’s treatment is ongoing.
