Prince George has spent the past few weeks settling in at Eton College. The 13-year-old, accompanied by proud parents Prince William and Princess Kate, arrived at the prestigious boarding school on 8 September, and will have been busy getting the lay of the land and making friends with classmates.
He will also be getting a handle on the school rules at Eton - and that includes a new regulation that was brought in just this year.
Punctuality is of paramount importance at the college and if a student arrives late for lessons or chapel they are forced to wake up early and sign their name in a "tardy book" kept by administrative staff.
Another rule relates to their students' work. If a teacher (known as a 'beak') isn't happy with the quality of work, they will physically tear off the top of the page. If a student accumulates too many "rips" they receive a formal progress report called a "white ticket," which tracks their daily academic performance and can result in a meeting with the Headmaster.
This year, however, the focus has been on the use of school-issued iPads, after parents complained about the potential of their children developing a screen addiction.
The new rule at Eton
Eton issued new guidance to the parents of their new first-year pupils - including Prince George - which includes a rule that boys can only use a "specially designed safe browser" on their iPads to access a so-called "white list" of sites that have been approved by their teachers.
It follows complaints made by parents in 2024 about pupils using their iPads for gaming and accessing the internet when they were in lessons or supposed to be doing their homework.
© GettyEton first introduced iPads for learning in 2019, and all first-year boys are issued with them when they arrive at the school. Since 2024, they have also been provided with Nokia 'brick' phones since they are banned from taking smartphones.
But in December 2024, more than 100 parents voiced their concerns about the school's device and internet-access policy in a joint letter to Sir Nicholas Coleridge, the provost, and the school’s leadership team.
School brings in tighter restrictions
As a result, in the summer, deputy head Mike Grenier wrote to the parents of incoming first-year pupils to set out the new tighter restrictions.
According to the Telegraph, in his letter he wrote that boys would still be provided with school iPads for academic use, but the devices would only connect to a dedicated network called Eton-Learning.
From October, they would be allowed to use a "specially designed safe browser" to access websites on a "white list" approved by their "beaks".
The publication further confirmed that first-years are still banned from having their devices overnight, but this year, they must also hand them in 30 minutes earlier on Saturday nights.
Boys who started in the 2024-25 academic year were allowed to use their devices until 9.30pm on Saturdays and 9pm the rest of the week. But the latest policy specifies a blanket 9pm rule, with pupils able to collect the devices at 7am the following morning.
Good news for William and Kate
The decision will have been welcomed by Prince William and Princess Kate. They have previously revealed that they limit their children's screen time and that none of their three have mobile phones.
Kate spoke about the dangers of screen time in an essay titled The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World. "While digital devices promise to keep us connected, they frequently do the opposite," the Princess wrote in the essay, published in collaboration with Prof Robert Waldinger from Harvard Medical School.
"When we check our phones during conversations, scroll through social media during family dinners, or respond to e-mails while playing with our children, we're not just being distracted, we are withdrawing the basic form of love that human connection requires," she said.
William confirms no phone rule for their children
Meanwhile, speaking to actor Eugene Levy on his Apple TV+ show, The Reluctant Traveler, William revealed: "None of our children have any phones, which we're very strict about."
© WireImageAnd while William and Kate have their own personal mobiles, they are rarely seen using them in public. During a visit to OnSide Youth Zone in Hammersmith and Fulham, William spoke to a youngster who confessed to relentlessly scrolling. "The grown-ups are guilty of it too. We have got to be better at it, our phones, too. We spend ages on our phones," he said.
Then, during a visit to BAFTA's headquarters in London in 2022, William admitted about his children: "At the moment it's trying to regulate the gaming...monitoring screen time. Got to be careful of that. They're fascinated by it. George particularly. He's more interested in it. The other two are a bit too small at the moment but they love the films. I adore film and gaming as well."
How George, Charlotte, and Louis avoid screen time
William elaborated on the kind of activities his children do, instead of being glued to devices. And sports play a big part in their school and home life. "Louis loves the trampoline, so he's obsessed with trampolining and actually Charlotte does a lot as well. As far as I can tell they just end up jumping up and down on the trampoline, beating each other up, most of the time. Apparently, there is an art to it.
"Charlotte does her netball as well and her ballet and so keeping them busy with sports and being outdoors is really important… George loves his football and his hockey."
© Getty ImagesNaturally, there are times when William and Kate indulge their children in a bit of screen time – such as when they're travelling. In summer 2022, Kate was spotted flying to Scotland with Charlotte, aged seven at the time, and Louis on a commercial flight.
A TikTok user shared a video, revealing: "On a flight to Scotland, Kate Middleton, both kids, nanny and security 2 rows in front of me. Could get a private jet or helicopter but keeping it simple, flying economy. She even got up halfway through the flight to get her daughter's iPad. And yes, she was stunning, even gave me a smile while looking back at row behind her to talk to her son."
