Sickness may prevent Duchess of Cambridge taking George to school
Pregnant Kate may stay in Kensington Palace when four-year-old Prince George starts at a 拢17,604-a-year day school on Thursday.
Thursday 7 September 2017 08:21, UK
The Duchess of Cambridge may be unable to accompany Prince George to his first day of school on Thursday due to the severe sickness associated with her new pregnancy.
The four-year-old prince is due to start at Thomas's school in Battersea, a three mile drive from the family's home in Kensington Palace.
But while his parents planned to drop him off at the gates, it now appears Kate may be kept at home by hyperemesis gravidarum, .
George is thought to be among the youngest in his year, and is expected to have a gentle first day at his new school, where 560 pupils between the ages of four and 13 are educated.
The school's website says its most important rule is to "be kind", and its fees start at £17,604 a year for each child.
Grace Moody-Stuart, from the Good Schools guide, said pupils at the elite institution would be introduced to specialist subject teaching "from the word go", adding that she considered it a good choice for confident Prince George.
"The children need to be independent, really organised, pretty robust, and outgoing," she said. "So I wouldn't necessarily think that it was the right school for a very shy or retiring child."
But others, including writer and broadcaster Rachel Johnson, have criticised the exclusive choice.
"I think as modernising royals they had a golden opportunity to break the mould and also do something to address the educational apartheid system that we have in this country, which sees the educated elite go to the top universities and then take the top jobs," she said.
It is understood a decision over whether the Duchess of Cambridge will accompany George to his new school will be made in the morning.
The Palace revealed on Monday that the Duchess was pregnant with her third child, and suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum as she had in previous pregnancies.
The condition - sometimes referred to as extreme morning sickness - causes severe vomiting.
It affects 3.5 pregnant women in 1,000 and the frequency of sickness it causes can lead to dehydration, weight loss and a build up a toxins in blood or urine.
Treatments include placing sufferers on a drip, but it is not generally considered to threaten long-term consequences for mother or baby.
The Duchess suspended all Royal engagements as a result of the illness, for which she has previously been hospitalised.
She said she is not sure her son "has any idea what's going to hit him" on his first day of school.