There’s a lot to be concerned about when you’re a parent—not least keeping your kids fed, safe and happy—and that’s before the additional worries that come with raising a future king. Every parent wants to believe they’ve done a good job and shaped their children to be polite, confident and well-balanced, but most of our little princes and princesses don’t regularly meet world leaders!
Safety is always front of mind—balancing the need to give your kids freedom as they hit their teens and making sure they’re shielded from harm, in real life and online. And that’s something William and Kate have taken very seriously, wanting George, Charlotte and Louis to have as “normal” an upbringing as possible, while understanding their situation is anything but normal.
However, there’s one issue above all others that’s worrying William and Kate, and parents everywhere will surely relate. Read on to learn their biggest concern as 13-year-old Prince George heads to Eton this fall.
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What is William and Kate’s biggest fear when it comes to Prince George?
It’s smartphones. William and Kate have been vocal about not letting their children have mobile phones, but once George follows in his father’s footsteps to the prestigious Eton boarding school in Berkshire, west of London, they may have to grapple with some modern realities.
“There are parental concerns, naturally, that he will be growing up in a digital age,” says royal editor Rebecca English in the Daily Mail. “The couple have refused to allow their children to have mobile phones, although admit that will change with their eldest at senior school.”
Does George have a phone?
No, not yet.
“Our children don’t have phones,” William told Brazilian TV host Luciano Huck last November. “I think when George moves on to secondary school, then maybe he might have a phone that has limited access,” adding that it’s a “tense” issue but that they’ve communicated to George why the internet in particular poses a problem.
Eton, which costs about $88,000 a year, has a no-smartphones policy for incoming Year 9 pupils like George, issuing them Nokia “brick phones” instead, which can’t access the internet. That’s probably reassuring for William and Kate.
“I think children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online,” William told Huck. “And so having a phone and text message, the old sort of ‘brick phone’ as they call them, I think that’s fine.”
Why is it a particular concern right now?
There are two issues. One is that this is the first time George will be fully boarding away from home—and away from his parents’ watchful eyes. Even if he does only have a brick phone, he’ll have the freedom to text his friends as much as he wants.
The second issue is that his parents can’t control other boys’ or the public’s phone usage—in particular, their ability to take and circulate photos of George. Even if George is a great kid, and by all accounts he is, neither his parents nor the school can stop onlookers taking photos or videos of him in the street.
“The couple’s biggest worry now is not the paparazzi, but an entire generation armed with camera phones, instantly uploading snaps and videos for ‘clout and likes,’ ” English writes in the Daily Mail.
How much might a scandalous picture of George go for?
It could be $100,000 or more. Although the days of newspapers and magazines paying huge amounts for scandalous images is over, if someone did snap a compromising photo of George, they could expect to get a large payday through syndication online and in print.
California paparazzo Mark Karloff says on his Paparazzi Podcast that in the past, he’d regularly make “$50,000 to $100,000 off one photo,” but now, if something sold for $1,000 in the paparazzi heyday, he says it would fetch more like $50 today.
A snapshot is one thing, but today we have video fears too. A candid video of teenage Prince George would get big numbers on social media, earning ad revenue with every click. So, it’s all added stress for George and his parents. “It will be interesting to see how they navigate this challenge given how determined they have always been to ring-fence their family from the moment George and his siblings were born,” writes English.
What royal moments were caught on camera when William, Kate and the other royals were young?
Kate is particularly worried about keeping her kids out of the spotlight because she’s experienced paparazzi intrusion both as a young woman and a mother.
Back in 2015, when George was a toddler, Kate was on a beach in Norfolk when she noticed they were being followed by two photographers. “She had to grab him and go, and was deeply upset about the whole thing,” English writes in the Daily Mail. “It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but she was really unhappy and very, very worried.”
Other candid photos of the young royals include:
- William at Eton: A smiling 13-year-old William was snapped walking down the street with his fellow pupils on his first day at Eton in 1995. After the death of Diana two years later, the British press stayed away from unauthorized images of the schoolboy.
- Kate’s see-through dress: As a student at St. Andrews University in 2002, Catherine modeled a sheer dress and underwear on the catwalk at a university fashion show. Though not a paparazzi shot, the dress—and the runway photo—went down in history.
- Harry’s Nazi costume: In 2005, Prince Harry attended a friend’s fancy-dress party in a Nazi uniform. A partygoer sold a photo of him to the Sun newspaper, which ran it with the headline, “Harry the Nazi.” He was forced to apologize at the time, but in his 2023 memoir, Spare, Harry blamed it on William and Catherine, who, he says, encouraged him to wear it.
- Kate’s topless photos: In 2012, the newlyweds were on holiday in Provence, France, in a private property, when a paparazzi snapped topless photos of Catherine sunbathing. The images appeared in French Closer and Italian Chi magazines. The couple sued and French authorities ruled it an invasion of privacy.
- Harry’s naked party pics: Also in 2012, Harry, still in his wild period, played strip pool with friends and others in a Las Vegas hotel suite. One of the women in attendance took a photo on her phone, which was obtained by TMZ. Harry again apologized but blamed it on the women. “I had counted on those dodgy girls showing some basic decency, and now I was going to pay the price forever,” he wrote in Spare. “These photos would never go away.”
Will the palace have a deal with the media to keep George’s life as private as possible?
Yes, there’s an ongoing agreement with the palace and the British press, meaning George and his siblings will be left alone at school, and private photos will not be published. This rule goes all the way back to when William and Harry were young.
It’s also certain that parents of children at Eton will be told not to publish images of the prince—a great rule for all parents to follow regarding children and their classmates, but even more pertinent in this case.
The wild card is, of course, the general public and social media. If anyone gets footage of George around town, it will be difficult to keep them from posting.
Sources:
- Daily Mail: “The Real Prince George …”
- Standard: “Prince George not being allowed a smartphone a ‘tense issue’ – William”
- Paparazzi Podcast: “Good Old Days”
- BBC: “Six on trial over topless photos of Duchess of Cambridge”
- BBC: “Harry says sorry for Nazi costume”
- BBC: “Prince Harry ‘let down family’ over Vegas photos”
- Guardian: “The Princes and the press: full statement”
- Spare by Prince Harry
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