The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will move the family to Windsor with their children set to all start at the same school in September, it has been confirmed.
From the start of term Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will join Lambrook School, near Ascot and close to Windsor Castle.
The announcement comes after multiple reports in recent months that William and Kate had decided to make a move out to Windsor.
They will live in Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor Estate but will retain Kensington Palace as their London residence and continue to use Anmer Hall in Norfolk as another family home.
Their decision to use another property during the current cost of living crisis may bring criticism from those who question how the Royal Family is funded.
Jonathan Perry, headmaster at Lambrook School, said: “We are delighted that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will be joining us this coming September and very much look forward to welcoming the family, as well as all of our new pupils, to our school community.”
A royal source said of the move: “This is very much a decision that two parents have made to give their children the ‘most normal’ start possible.
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“KP [Kensington Palace] can be a little bit of a fishbowl. They wanted to be able to give George, Charlotte and Louis a bit more freedom than they have living in central London.
“It’s very much a decision that’s been led by the kids.”
For the past few years Prince George, nine, and Princess Charlotte, seven, attended Thomas’s School in Battersea, south London.
But now they’ll also be joined by younger brother Prince Louis, four, who went to Willcocks Nursery School in London.
Adelaide Cottage is a Grade II listed four-bedroom home and living there will mean William, Kate, George, Charlotte and Lous are just 10 minutes’ walk southeast from the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Even closer is Frogmore Cottage which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex use when visiting the UK.
Lambrook is an independent school which is home to 620 boys and girls, set in 52 acres of the Berkshire countryside.
The school website says: “From 1860 to the present day, we have been nurturing boys and girls from the ages of 3 through to 13, giving them ‘feathers to fly’, ensuring that they enter senior school life as confident, outgoing, intelligent and creative young people.”
The school was founded by Robert Burnside “with an eye on tutoring the sons of courtiers of Windsor Castle,” the website adds.
Alumni include two of Queen Victoria’s grandsons, Prince Christian Victor and Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein.
Other former pupils include Lord Alfred Douglas, author, poet and Oscar Wilde’s lover, and three sons of former prime minister H H Asquith.
