Harry attended Mrs Mynor’s Nursery school

On 16/09/1987, Prince Harry began his formal education at Mrs. Mynors’ Nursery School in Notting Hill, London. The young prince, then three years old, attended his first day of school accompanied by his parents, Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, along with his older brother, Prince William. The nursery school, officially known as Jane Mynors’ Nursery School, was a small private school in west London attended by children from local professional and high profile families. Princess Diana had chosen the school partly because she wanted Prince William and Prince Harry to experience a more ordinary childhood environment than previous generations of royal children. Prince Harry’s first day quickly became one of the most widely photographed royal family moments of the late 1980s. Images showed him wearing a blue school sweatshirt and shorts while carrying a Thomas the Tank Engine satchel. After completing his first two hour classroom session, photographers captured him peering curiously at waiting crowds and media cameras through cardboard binoculars he had reportedly made during class activities. The photographs received widespread newspaper coverage in Britain and internationally, helping shape the public image of the young prince during his early childhood years. The event also reflected Princess Diana’s increasingly modern approach to parenting and education, as she regularly sought opportunities for her sons to interact with children outside traditional royal circles. Prince William had already attended the same nursery school, making the brothers among the first senior royal children in modern times to begin their education in a relatively ordinary nursery environment rather than through private tutoring inside royal residences. Prince Harry remained at the nursery before later attending Wetherby School in London and eventually Ludgrove School in Berkshire. Why This Moment Matters Prince Harry’s first day at nursery school became an early public symbol of Princess Diana’s efforts to provide her sons with a more normal and socially connected upbringing. The widely circulated photographs from the day also became some of the most recognizable childhood images of Prince Harry.