Prince William Reveals Why Princess Charlotte Was Not Excited About Going to School This Week

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 6 June 2024

As if we didn’t already love Princess Charlotte enough, her dad, Prince William, gave us a relatable reason to like her even more—she wasn’t looking forward to school this week because she had exams, he revealed during an engagement on Wednesday.

“Charlotte’s at school,” he said while chatting with a young well-wisher yesterday, as he was commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day (which is actually today, June 6). “Charlotte’s got exams.”

Princess Charlotte 9th birthday photo — Charlotte, seen here in her ninth birthday portrait released last month, wasn't looking forward to exams this week.

William further added that nine-year-old Charlotte “wasn’t looking forward to it this morning” before heading off for school at Lambrook, where she attends with brothers Prince George and Prince Louis. “Hopefully it’s all gone well,” he said, as he crossed his fingers.

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On Wednesday, William traveled to Portsmouth, England, to speak at the event alongside King Charles and Queen Camilla, and said, per Us Weekly, that he was “deeply honored” to be in attendance. He also, poignantly, gave an update on another member of his family: his wife, the Princess of Wales, who continues to remain out of the public eye as she receives treatment for cancer, a diagnosis she revealed to the public in a March 22 video message. Of Kate, William told one veteran that “she’d have loved to be here,” adding that Kate is “getting better” as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis — The Wales kids began school at Lambrook in September 2022; Charlotte is now in year four there.

As for Charlotte, she and her brothers began school at Lambrook on September 8, 2022, the same day Her late Majesty passed away at her beloved Balmoral at 96 years old. Because of the royal family’s interesting surname situation, that meant that William and Kate’s three kids began school at Lambrook that Thursday as George Cambridge, Charlotte Cambridge, and Louis Cambridge (a nod to their parents’ former titles as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) but the next day, as William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales, returned to Lambrook as George Wales, Charlotte Wales, and Louis Wales. Flash forward to present day, and Charlotte is finishing year four—and we, too, hope her exams went well as a school break is on the horizon.

Though we saw a new photo celebrating her ninth birthday last month, we haven’t seen Charlotte undertake any public engagements since Christmas Day 2023, when she and the rest of the royal family went to their annual church service at St. Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate. That day also marked the last time we’ve seen her mother, Kate, undertake public duties, as she’s undergone a tumultuous health battle since the beginning of 2024.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.