Prince George, Princess Charlotte to spend more months with family away from school

Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the eldest children of Prince William and Kate Middleton, won't be returning to school anytime soon.

The royal siblings, who haven't been to school since they came home for a mid-spring break in February last year, were expected to return to their classes after the current holiday break. However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced over the weekend that primary schools in the city will remain closed even after the holidays due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases in London.

Thomas's Battersea, a $23,000-per-year private school that Prince George has attended since 2017 and Princess Charlotte since 2019, will also remain closed. Prince Louis, the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was also expected to start nursery school this week, but that seems highly unlikely given the current scenario.

George and Charlotte both started nursery school when they were 2 in the month of January, and Louis also turned two in April last year. William and Kate have not yet announced whether their youngest child will wait for the next year to start school or will opt for homeschooling this year.

While announcing the recent school closure in a tweet, Mayor Khan had written: "The government's original decision was ridiculous and has been causing immense confusion for parents, teachers and staff across the capital. It is right that all schools in London are treated the same, and that no primary schools in London will be forced to open on Monday."

Under the fresh coronavirus guidelines imposed after a new variant of COVID-19 was discovered in the UK, London has been categorised as Tier 4, meaning citizens must stay home except for approved reasons such as buying food, exercising outdoors, medical purposes or work that can't be done from home.

George and Charlotte spent most of the last year at their Anmer Hall country home in Norfolk, with their parents and younger brother Louis. They attended online classes and were also homeschooled by William and Kate.

The Duchess of Cambridge previously said about the experience in May: "We're stuck into homeschooling again. George gets very upset because he just wants to do all of Charlotte's projects. Spider sandwiches are far cooler than literacy work!"