It was quite a day for Princess Charlotte as she started attending ‘big school’ with older brother Prince George. 
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge marked the special occasion by joining their children for the first day of the new term at Thomas’s Battersea. Until now, Charlotte was going to Willcocks Nursery School in Kensington; she started there in January 2018. Can you believe how much she has grown since then?
At times the Princess looked a little tentative as she peeked out from behind her mother’s arm. 
Not too different from her brother on his first day at school.
At other times, Charlotte seemed very much at ease while big brother George was in full-on funny face mode. 
Below, Helen Haslem, the head of the Lower School, welcomes the family. 
The Princess is starting what is called the Reception year at Thomas’s, for students age 4, part of the Lower School. Below, Charlotte greeting Ms. Haslem.
The school makes it clear that its most important rule, “which applies to every member of the school community, is to ‘Be Kind.’” 
More about the Lower School as detailed on the school’s site by Ms. Haslem.
The emphasis in the Lower School is on enjoyment and this is embedded in our broad curriculum and our most important school rule of ‘Be Kind’.
Children quickly settle into the routines and expectations of the school where the atmosphere is noticeably happy, yet stimulating in nature. Our foremost aim is to ensure that every child feels safe, happy and confident at school. We help to create an environment in which children are eager to learn and to take an active part in their own learning.
Prince George is entering Year 2, his final year in the Lower School. More from a Town and Country story:
On top of his weekly spelling list, optional online math activities, and daily reading (at least 10 minutes, per the school’s policies), George will be expected to become a fluent reader, and complete reading comprehension exercises.
Kensington Palace posted a 30-second video of the family arriving.
Princess Charlotte arrives for her first day of school at Thomas’s Battersea, joining her older brother Prince George. ✏️?? pic.twitter.com/8l63WEjzcw
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) September 5, 2019
The palace also released a photo of the children on the steps of Kensington Palace just before they left for school this morning. 
Lizzie Robinson of ITV was at Thomas’s and tweeted that you could just make out “…Kate telling Charlotte that big brother George ‘will help show you the way'” this morning.
Now for specifics on what the children wore today, their Thomas’s Battersea uniforms. All uniform pieces are from Perry Uniform, based in Leeds.
We’ll start with Princess Charlotte, who was in the ‘transitional uniform,’ with pieces from both summer and winter uniforms. She wore the Round Neck Cardigan in a cotton/acrylic blend (£29.95, about $36); one of the Twin Pack Short Sleeve Blouses in a cotton/poly blend with light blue piping at the collar and sleeve hem (£29, roughly $35); the navy Winter Pinafore in a polyester/wool blend with a back zipper and pocket (£45, about $55); a pair of white anklets.
She also had her official Thomas’s Battersea Lower School Rucksack (£13, about $16), in navy polyester with red detailing and the school’s logo. Attached to it, a pink sequin unicorn, shown in the center top below. 
You will find when doing a search for “pink sequin unicorn keychains fobs” there is no shortage of such items. I found one that could be a match, part of a pack of twenty ‘party favor key chain unicorns’ at Amazon UK (£7.99, about $10).
I have not yet looked for Charlotte’s anklets or shoes but will take a peek as soon as the post is up. They appear to be black, although Lower School girls have the option of wearing navy or black “polishable shoes with buckle or velcro strap.”
UPDATE SEPT 6: With thanks to JR for her comment, it looks like the shoes are from a familiar source, Amaia Kids. 
The Mary Jane style (£48/$57.60) from Amaia Kids is made in Spain of % calf leather with scalloped trim and a soft heel. Charlotte’s shoe looked more black than navy to me; the style isn’t shown in black leather on the Amaia site, but I could easily be wrong about the color or that color may not yet be shown on the site. I will touch base with Amaia Kids to see if this is the style worn by the Princess yesterday. Otherwise, it looks like a match to me, thank you JR!
Here is a look back at Prince George in his school uniform. On the left, the Prince on his very first day at Thomas’s Battersea in September 2017; when visiting his new baby brother at the Lindo Wing in April 2018; and again today. 
Today’s look is much the same as seen in previous photos. George wore the school’s V-Neck Jumper in a 50/50 cotton/acrylic blend (£24.95, about $30 at today’s exchange rates); the Bermuda Shorts in a poly/viscose blend with pockets and front pleat (£23, about $28); it’s possible the Prince was in a shirt from the twin pack of Oxford Blue Short Sleeve Shirts in a cotton/poly blend (£24.95, about $30).
I say “it’s possible” and the graphic above says, “A shirt similar to this one” because I’m not convinced George is wearing this exact shirt. When we first saw him in the shirt in 2017, his shirt looked just a little different from the uniform style, particularly the collar, which appeared wider than that seen in the standard-issue shirts. I will take a closer look as soon as I can, but at this point, I don’t know if he is wearing the uniform shirt.
The Prince appears to be in another pair of Pisamonas School Mocassins (£38.95, roughly $48). The style has a leather upper, flexible leather insole and anti-slip rubber soles. We show the shoe in black, as the school policy requires “black leather, polishable, laceless shoes.” 
Pisamonas are designed and manufactured in Spain, and George has worn the brand before. It is relatively easy to match the marks on the sole of his shoes with those seen in the product pictures. 
You can see the list of required uniform pieces here. Below, a portion of that list. 
Today we were treated to the many faces of Princess Charlotte. 
And also the mercurial expressions of Prince George. 
And we are reminded how much the children have grown in the short time they have been posing for school photos on the steps of Kensington Palace. 
ITV’s Chris Ship noted on Twitter that the first day of school for the young royals was front-page news.
A bit of a theme on many of Friday’s UK newspaper front pages ? ? #PrincessCharlotte #PrinceGeorge pic.twitter.com/jqBFQ4DOw6
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) September 5, 2019
It was a treat to see the children today, they looked just darling in their uniforms as they start the new school year. We’ll leave you with this one-minute video from the Royal Family Channel.
Charlotte looks amazing in her uniform, and so grown up! I’m interested to see the girls’ uniform comes in a skirt style, or in this case a practical pinafore, as so many places seem to have a trousers option for girls. Her cardigan is very cute too, with its two red smart stripes on the pockets.
Thanks for posting all the pics of their facial expressions, great fun, as well as evidence of how fast they are changing. The picture of the two of them together before setting out is just adorable.
Princess Charlotte’s anklets are from Trotters, they cost £6. Prince George keyring is from Kids Army Shop, it’s a dog tag necklace turned into a keyring. Great post as always 😉
Hi,
Thank you for this.
Charlotte looked so cute on her 1st at school.
I’m quite surprised that the younger girls don’t wear a gingham dress in the summer, as most girls in the infants & juniors do.
I do think the shirt isn’t the actual uniform one either. In the pics it clearly has the loop or whatever it is on the underneath of the collar as did the one he wore first year. It almost looks like it for a tie to feed through. Was that shirt ever found….it could be from the same company. But they are both so very gorgeous.
I added a link two years ago in the comments to a similar shirt but never hear anything. I’ll look for it again.
Is there also a keychain on Prince George’s book bag?
No, I had not noticed that! I will check when I’m home and have the hi-res pix to look at. ?
In some of the photos where Princess Charlotte is being greeted by Ms. Haslem you can make out a black-bordered rectangular shaped keychain? attached to Prince George’s bag…I’m not quite sure what it is?
I’m curious: who took the formal portrait at KP? In lieu of a photographer’s name, should we “assume” it was the Duchess of Cambridge? Thanks!
Hi, Janet and thank you for commenting. At this point, we don’t know who took the photo, although it does not appear to be one taken by the Duchess. There has been chatter on social media it was taken by a staff member but no official confirmation that is the case. 🙂
I think Charlotte shoes are =
https://calzadosnicolas.es/producto/mercedita-hebilla-gulliver/
Thank you for the link, Severine. They really are very much like Charlotte’s, but they have padding at the heel that hers do not have. But they’re a great repli-Charlotte! 🙂
Amaia posted shoes today that looked similar to Charlotte’s. They used her name in a hashtag so I assumed those were her shoes.
Hi, JR, and thank you for the tip. It looks like you are correct, the Aamia pair seems identical to Charlotte’s! 🙂
Arm in arm.….delightful. Such a lovely “family affair” memory. Prince George – April 2018 – looks soooo much like his father at that age. Princess Charlotte….a mini HM for sure. They grow up so quickly. Thanks for the post!
Very kind family. But why Charlotte doesn’t Wear the same shirt than George ???
Because George’s shirt is from the boys uniform while Charlotte’s is from the girls uniform.