Prince George's School Friends Reportedly Get To Hang Out At Kensington Palace

When you were a kid did you ever play tea party? Where you lined up all of your stuffed animals and sat them in chairs and pretended you were drinking tea and such? I know I did, and to be honest, I loved to pretend I was a princess hosting a tea party. Somewhere in a palace wearing a crown eating little tiny sandwiches, you know the drill. And if you ever played palace tea party yourself, imagine what it must be like to get invited to Prince George's playdates with friends. What do they even pretend to do when their real life is already playing in a palace?

That's right folks, a palace source recently told British media outlet The Sun that 6-year-old Prince George hosts playdates at his home. Which is Kensington Palace, of course (although he does have that second home with his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at Anmer Hall in Norfolk County).

Now that the school year is on and 6-year-old Prince George is back at Thomas's Battersea, the private prep school he attends with his 4-year-old sister Princess Charlotte in London, it just makes sense for Prince George to have playdates at Kensington Palace. You know, for proximity purposes.

The royal source explained to The Sun that Prince George, who is simply known as George Cambridge at his school, has made loads of friends and his parents are happy to have them come over to the 17th century palace to hang out:

Kate and William are delighted that George is getting on so well at school and that he’s made friends. And just like any normal child, he has invited a few of his mates on play dates. It’s just that most school kids don’t go somewhere like Kensington Palace to see their friends out of lessons.

As exciting as it might be to go play at a royal palace no matter how old you are, it seems even the young children have to go through a vetting process before they're allowed on the grounds, as the source told The Sun:

It is wonderful for them – and their parents – to go to such a beautiful and historic palace and have the run of the place. But it does involve a bit more planning than a normal play date, as everyone visiting the palace has to be security vetted.

Kensington Palace is actually open to the public in some areas and even people who are just in those areas are subject to bag checks and such, so perhaps it's not terribly surprising to find out that guests need to be vetted. Even 6-year-olds.

Of course, with three children in the Cambridge household, including 1-year-old baby brother Prince Louis, playdates are presumably going to become a regular occurrence at Kensington Palace for the foreseeable future. Kate Middleton and Prince William are smart to set themselves up as hosts now so that their kids' friends will want to hang out there as they get older and they can keep an eye on them. Having a palace probably doesn't hurt their case either.