Royal followers had been anticipating Thursday, September 8 for weeks—the first day of school at Lambrook for Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
Of course, the trio’s first day of school was overshadowed by something else entirely, something far more grim: the death of Her Majesty, who passed away at her beloved Balmoral that afternoon at 96 years old.
We saw the three kids and their parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton, beaming at a preview day at their new school that Wednesday, September 7—and we haven’t seen them since. In a strange turn of events, George, Charlotte, and Louis started school that Thursday morning as George Cambridge, Charlotte Cambridge, and Louis Cambridge; by the next day, as their parents were named the new Prince and Princess of Wales, they returned as George Wales, Charlotte Wales, and Louis Wales.
On a walkabout greeting mourners at Sandringham on Thursday, Kate gave an update on her three kids, who that day were one week into their new environment at Lambrook.
The Princess of Wales said George, Charlotte, and Louis are “making new friends” at school and that they are adjusting well, mourner Lydia Bailey told PEOPLE.
“Kate said the children have settled in nicely with their new school and have new friends,” she said. Bailey also spoke to William, who said “the Queen’s values will continue for time to come.”
On the kids’ first day of school, William traveled to Scotland to be with his family, while Kate stayed behind in Windsor to be there for her kids. Kids generally seem to be top of mind for William and Kate whenever they see them at engagements, and the same rang true on Thursday, when they met Sarah Tomlinson, who was there with a friend and a friend’s baby.
“My friend’s baby was the first Jubilee baby to be born in Kings Lynn [a town nearby to Sandringham] and named after Prince Louis,” Tomlinson said. “William came over and said how darling he is in his outfit.” Tomlinson added the couple “showed a real interest” in the baby, even asking if he was sleeping through the night.
“I can’t believe how together they are,” she said. “They seem to be supporting us rather than us supporting them.”
Over the past week, according to Hello, the Wales kids also had a special run-in with uncle and aunt Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who “have managed to have a short but sweet visit with their nephews and niece,” the outlet reports. The encounter happened on the same day as the aforementioned walkabout, Thursday, September 15—which happened to also be Harry’s thirty-eighth birthday.
“On Thursday afternoon, as William returned to Windsor after collecting his children from school, he passed his brother and sister-in-law as they were heading in the opposite direction,” the outlet details. “The brothers drove past each other but then stopped, reversed, wound down their windows, and chatted for a while.”
It is unknown the last time Harry and Meghan saw the three kids, as reports say they did not get a chance to meet up during Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last June.
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