All the Signs Prince George Is Taking This Future King Business Seriously

Prince George should have decades to go before he becomes king, but he's already dressing the part.

Prince William and Kate Middleton's eldest child, who's turning 11 on July 22, looked more grown-up than ever in the suit and striped tie he wore to the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship July 14 in Berlin.

And while he enjoyed a day out with his dad to watch England take on Spain, 9-year-old Princess Charlotte attended the Wimbledon men's singles final with their mum, Kate making only her second public appearance this year amid her cancer treatment.

In turn, the respective George and Charlotte sightings were rare, as well.

With the Princess of Wales largely out of the spotlight, so too have her kids been living their least public life since before they were even old enough to notice the cameras. Kate acknowledged when she shared her cancer diagnosis in March that she and William's main focus had been figuring out the right way to tell George, Charlotte and Prince Louis, 6, and reassure them that she'd be OK.

But while a priority was to keep the children's routines as normal as possible, a recent outing took a turn for the extraordinary when William brought all three kids to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour show at Wembley Stadium last month.

With Travis Kelce deeming their dad "the coolest motherf--king dude" (on his podcast, not to their face) and calling it "an absolute delight" to meet them, their summer has been far from cruel.

But it has been a different sort of year, though seeing George in his natty threads alongside his father as they chatted with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was a reminder that the family still has a job to do—and the young prince remains on the executive path.

By last year, in fact, William and George had embarked on what promises to be a golden era for mini-me ensembles and a key chapter of their respective royal educations. 

(And sporting events are certainly a clever way to start injecting official responsibility into a tween-age boy's schedule. Especially when there's pizza.)

Because though it seems as if only yesterday George was wearing shorts and high socks in his birthday portraits, he's only going to become increasingly more visible in public life.

The new era symbolically began when, serving as a Page of Honor, George became the youngest future king to have a formal role in a coronation when his granddad King Charles III was crowned in May 2023. (The now-reigning monarch, who's also battling an undisclosed type of cancer, was only 4 for his mum Queen Elizabeth II's big day in 1953).

"Kate and William are becoming more comfortable with that," royal correspondent Sharon Carpenter observed to E! News ahead of the event, which was watched by an estimated 400 million people. "A big part of their mission as parents was to make sure their kids have as normal a childhood as possible. And when deciding what role, or if he should even have a role, at the coronation, there was a lot of back and forth."

And while that test—which he passed with flying Union Jack colors—didn't necessarily signal full speed ahead for George, he is at the age at which his future career is going to be playing more of a role in his day-to-day.

So it's a good thing his mom taught him how to knot his own tie. But though a corner office has already been reserved for George at The Firm, no one is handing over the key to the executive washroom just yet.

Rather, his next hurdle to clear is Year 7 at Lambrook School in Berkshire, where he, Charlotte and Louis all started in September 2022, the Wales family relocating to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor to be nearby. (Previously George and Charlotte attended Thomas's Battersea in South London, making him the first in the Wales line of the family to go to a co-ed school before university.)

"Stability at home is so important to me," William, who along with brother Prince Harry attended boarding school from the age of 8, told British GQ in 2017. "I want to bring up my children in a happy, stable, secure world, and that is so important to both of us as parents. I want George to grow up in a real, living environment, I don't want him growing up behind palace walls, he has to be out there. The media make it harder but I will fight for them to have a normal life."

Getting William and Harry "out there" was also a priority for Princess Diana, who championed her sons' real-world education before her untimely death in 1997, bringing them with her to visit homeless shelters and hospital wards.

"I want my boys to have an understanding of people's emotions, their insecurities, people's distress, and their hopes and dreams," she said in her revelatory 1995 Panorama interview. 

Born in 1982, William didn't even really know that he was second in line to the throne until other kids asked him about it at school, his parents wanting him to focus on the business of being a kid. Diana would tell him that all those photographers just wanted pictures of her and to pay them no mind.

Charles, whose grandfather King George VI was on the throne when he was born in 1948, also had no real idea of his place in the monarchy until he was a bit older and realized why people were so interested in everything he did.

"I think it's something that dawns on you with the most ghastly inexorable sense," Charles said in an interview on the occasion of his 21st birthday in 1969. "And slowly you get the idea that you have a certain duty and responsibility."

Following his split from Diana in 1992, he felt "very strongly" that then 10-year-old William and 8-year-old Harry "should be protected as much as possible from being dragged from pillar to post," saying, per biographer Sally Bedell Smith, "I don't want them to do too many official things until they have to."

Charles ended up waiting in the wings 74 years for the promotion that's icky to want but which he had to spend most of his life preparing for nonetheless. In turn, William, now the Prince of Wales as the eldest son of the current monarch, is already on deck with his father, steering the royal ship through this uncertain era following the end of Queen Elizabeth II's unprecedented 70-year reign.

But George doesn't have to come aboard quite yet.

William and Kate are "gradually introducing their children to the importance of the monarchy," Carpenter said. "And no one finds the monarchy more important, because they are at the center of it themselves."

Yet the couple made a concerted decision early on not to unnecessarily parade their children around just to please the masses. And, the royal expert noted, the public at least seems to understand that "being too much in the spotlight can cause mental health issues if it happens at too young an age. Parents have to be very protective of their children."

But George and Charlotte so far seem to take after their parents when it comes to looking at ease in front of a crowd. (Louis, in his golden age of pulling faces, is a natural, too, but he's still a bit too young for the Royal Box at Wimbledon, where Charlotte made her scene-stealing debut last summer.)

"While William and Kate are keen to shield them from too much public scrutiny and press attention," Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nicholl wrote in her 2022 book The New Royals, "the children are now at an age where the know how to behave in front of the cameras"—Charlotte's occasional cheek aside—"and they are aware of the importance of their parents' roles supporting the Queen and the monarchy."

The book obviously went to press before the queen died Sept. 8, 2022, at the age of 96, but the sentiment handily translates to the family's current status, George, dad and grandpa all having moved up a rung on the gilded ladder.

"I think royal duty is extremely important," William told the BBC in 2016. "It's part of the fabric of what the royal family and any future monarch has. I take my responsibilities very seriously. But it's about finding your own way at the right time and if you're not careful duty can sort of weigh you down an awful lot at a very early age, and I think you've got to develop into the duty role."

At least for those who are asked to start doing their part at an early age, there's pizza. At which time George's main objective should just be to avoid getting sauce on his blazer.

Read on to see Prince George's cutest moments through the years:

The second in line to the U.K. throne is all smiles on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the coronation of his grandfather King Charles III.

George practices his archery skills in the Big Help Out event during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, west of London, in May 2023.

George appears with siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at the Trooping the Colour 2023 event.

George and sister Princess Charlotte watch Carlos Alcaraz face off against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon 2023 men's final.

George and sister Princess Charlotte joke around at the Wimbledon 2023 men's final.

George appears at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant on June 5, 2022.

Charlotte and sister Prince George visit Cardiff Castle to meet performers and crew involved in a special concert celebrating great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.

George joins his parents at the Guinness Six Nations rugby match (England vs. Wales) at Twickenham Stadium in London on Feb. 26, 2022.

The prince made a face while at his cousin Princess Eugenie's royal wedding to Jack Brooksbank on Oct. 12.

Prince George looked dapper at the christening of his little brother, Prince Louis.

The royal siblings appeared to have a ball at the Maserati Royal Charity Polo Trophy at the Beaufort Polo Club.

During the 2018 Trooping the Colour, Prince George's cousin Savannah Phillips covered his little mouth.

Prince George served as a Page Boy for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding.

Prince George visits his little brother Prince Louis for the first time.

For their 2017 Christmas card, Prince William and Kate Middleton shared a photo of them with Prince George and Princess Charlotte in matching blue ensembles.

The little prince arrives with his family to Berlin Tegel Airport during an official visit to Germany and Poland in mid-July 2017, just before his fourth birthday.

Prince George met former President Barack Obama in 2017.

The little prince looks a bit bored on the Buckingham Palace balcony with his parents Kate Middleton and Prince William and sister Princess Charlotte.

The prince is an adorable page boy at aunt Pippa Middleton's wedding to James Matthews.

The prince attends a children's party for military families in Canada with his family.

The prince joins parents Prince William and Kate Middleton and sister Princess Charlotte onboard a sea-plane on the final day of their Royal Tour of Canada in October 2016.

Sporting a white shirt with blue accents, Prince George is joined by his sister, Princess Charlotte, during the the historic event marking the Queen's 90th birthday. 

Rocking a set of blue ear protectors, Prince George sits besides his mother in a Squirrel helicopter during a visit to the Royal International Air Tattoo in early July 2016.

The little prince sits on a rocking horse in front of his parents and President Barack Obama during the U.S. leader and wife Michelle Obama's first meeting with him, during a dinner at Kensington Palace in April 2016. The two had given him the toy for his first birthday.

The little dude shows off rosy cheeks as snowflakes fall around him and his precious family.

Prince George enjoyed his first trip to the snow with mom, dad and little sister Charlotte.

The little prince made his Buckingham Palace balcony debut at the event, which celebrated his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II's 89th birthday.

Prince George takes a stroll with his mom at Beaufort Polo Club. 

The royal nanny makes sure George can get a good view through the window of Buckingham Palace.

Little George affectionately plants a wet one on his little sister Princess Charlotte's forehead. 

(Originally published July 21, 2023, at 9 p.m. PT)

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