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The father of one is known to have a close relationship with Catherine's children

James Middleton sent a message of support to his nephew, Prince George, on his first day of secondary school.

Prince George, 13, arrived at Eton College on Wednesday alongside his parents, Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, to begin his higher education.

To mark the occasion, the Prince and Princess of Wales shared three images of George wearing his school uniform on their official social media channels.

They captioned the post: "George’s first day at Eton", which, at the time of writing, has 1.1 million likes on Instagram and 84,000 likes on X.

One of the many famous people to comment underneath the Instagram post was Mr Middleton, the Princess of Wales's younger brother.

Another person who commented was Natasha Archer, Catherine's former longtime personal assistant and stylist.

Since leaving royal service last year, Ms Archer officially launched her own luxury creative consultancy firm in April 2026.

When asked about Prince George's first day of school, a spokesman for Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: "The PM would wish them all well as they embark on their next chapter of their journey."

Eton’s head master Simon Henderson told the future king upon his arrival: “Welcome, good luck, enjoy it.”

Catherine and William live in Forest Lodge, Windsor Great Park, near the renowned private school, which has educated a string of prime ministers and Hollywood stars.

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The young prince is following in the footsteps of father William and his uncle, the Duke of Sussex, who both attended the college.

George and his parents arrived in School Yard, the Berkshire institution’s historic quadrangle overlooked by Lupton’s Tower, a Tudor landmark, and at its centre was a statue of King Henry VI, who founded Eton in 1440.

Heavy rain had been falling all morning and only Catherine sheltered under an umbrella as they walked across the square towards Eton’s head master and the provost, Sir Nicholas Coleridge.

William carried a folded umbrella, and George stood between his parents.

When one of the party mentioned the rain, the provost, whose role is similar to a school’s chair of governors, replied “typical” and William added to the laughter: “If it rains, it rains for ages.”

They then walked through a doorway into one of the oldest parts of Eton and Catherine was seen to put her hand on her son’s back.

William was an Eton pupil for five years beginning in 1995 and served as a house captain and prefect before leaving to study at St Andrews University, while Harry joined three years after his brother.

George turned 13 in July after leaving Lambrook School, a private prep school in Berkshire he attended with siblings Princess Charlotte, 11, and eight-year-old Prince Louis.