The unusual royal rule that could separate Princess Charlotte and Prince George when he turns 12

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Prince George may soon be unable to travel with Prince William and Princess Charlotte because of an unusual royal rule designed to protect the monarchy, it has emerged.

This rule was also in place when William was a child, and when he turned 12 years old he was no longer able to travel with his father, then the Prince of Wales and younger brother, then third in line to the throne.

Now that George is third in line and Charlotte is fourth, in the event of an accident on an aircraft or another form of transportation, it could threaten the immediate line of succession were they all to travel together.

News of the unusual rule was revealed ahead of Prince George’s 11th birthday on 22 July by King Charles’s former pilot, Graham Laurie.

He told OK! magazine: “We flew all four: the Prince, the Princess, Prince William and Prince Harry, up until Prince William was 12 years old.

“After that, he had to have a separate aircraft and we could only fly all four together when they were young with the written permission of Her Majesty.

“When William became 12, he would fly normally in a 125 from Northolt and we would fly the 146 out with the other three on.”

If history is to repeat itself, this means that from next year, Prince George could be flying separately from his father and younger siblings.

However, as has been suggested that Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis may not become working royals, he may be allowed to travel with his siblings and mother.

According to a source who allegedly worked in Buckingham and Kensington Palace as a staffer, this will be done under “radical plans to reshape the British monarchy when William and Princess Kate ascend the throne.”

“The working assumption is that the younger two children will get on and do their own thing. They will be encouraged to not become working royals,” the insider told The Daily Beast.

The former royal staffer, however, acknowledged that this simply will not be an option for Prince George.

“The option isn’t there for George, of course, but the children have been kept at arm’s length from royal life,” they explained.

“They are exposed to the minimum possible publicity, and that is a deliberate strategy to let Charlotte and Louis choose their own destiny.”

This comes amid a year where Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have only attended one public engagement, the Trooping the Colour, amid Kate Middleton’s ongoing cancer treatment.

Prince George, meanwhile, was allowed to attend an Aston Villa game before the Princess of Wales made a welcome, but tentative return to public life in June.