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The Smartphone Threat Facing Prince George at School

“No Photography” signs may not be enough to protect royal privacy.

Britain’s future king will soon be starting his career at England’s most storied school, and the first warning signs are already visible: “No Photography” signs have been springing up around Eton College ahead of Prince George’s arrival in early September. The Berkshire school says that the signs have nothing to do with the 13-year-old prince’s enrollment and are part of a wider plan to protect the privacy of all Eton’s pupils. When George’s father, Prince William, and his uncle, Prince Harry, attended Eton, media access to the young prince was tightly controlled during his school years; they had regular official photo opps to feed public curiosity and undermine the paparazzi. But that was an age when people still read newspapers; the first iPhone was a glint in Steve Jobs’ eye. Now everyone can take a picture and post it online for everyone to see before even the sharpest royal minder can react (although Eton first-years are given decidedly non-smart Nokia brick phones, and are not allowed smartphones until later in their career). What then, can Prince George’s parents do to protect him even further?

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