American news outlets spent Tuesday gushing over a British teenager's first day at an elite boarding school that charges roughly $85,000 a year — the same press corps that routinely frames American parents demanding school choice as threats to public education.
Prince George, 13 and second in line to the British throne, arrived at Eton College with his parents Prince William and Kate Middleton, according to NBC News. Footage showed the family "smiling and looking relaxed" as they were greeted by the headteacher. CNN, via ABC17News, noted George "appeared to be in good spirits despite the gloomy fall weather."
Eton is no ordinary school. Founded in 1440 by King Henry VI, it has produced 20 British prime ministers — including Boris Johnson and David Cameron — along with actors Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddlestone, and Eddie Redmayne, per both NBC and CNN. Tuition runs about £63,298.80, or roughly $84,900, for the current academic year, CNN reported. NBC rounded it to £65,000. Students wear tailcoats, waistcoats, and gowns, and call teachers "beaks."
The school accepts roughly 270 boys per year across 25 dormitories, each led by a house master, according to CNN. George previously attended Lambrook School, another private institution near Windsor, alongside his siblings.
NBC noted the coincidence that George's first day fell on the fourth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's death and King Charles III's accession to the throne — a detail that underscores the hereditary privilege at the center of this story.
What none of the outlets mentioned: the price of Eton exceeds the median American household income. The same NBC that published this royal puff piece has repeatedly platformed critics who treat charter schools, voucher programs, and parental rights as assaults on public education. CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has hosted panel after panel on the dangers of "defunding" government schools. But a hereditary monarch's grandson attending a six-figure finishing school for aristocrats? That's a feel-good feature.
Page Six, for its part, offered no substantive reporting at all — just a community guidelines notice about keeping comments "civil."
The founders didn't break from one king to spend two centuries later fawning over his great-great-great-great-grandson's prep school commute. American families are told to be grateful for whatever the district assigns them. British royalty gets $85,000-a-year choice, and our press calls it news.







