Royals

There has been a coronavirus scare at Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s school in London

Four pupils at Thomas’s Battersea school had recently been to Italy and have been placed in isolation.
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Four schoolchildren at Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s school have been placed in self-isolation over fears they may have contracted the coronavirus after a recent trip to Italy, the Daily Mail reports.

A number of Thomas’s Battersea pupils had recently visited northern Italy on a school trip, with four pupils being asked to self-isolate – two of which displayed flu-like symptoms – as they await test results for Covid-19.

At the time of writing Italy has confirmed almost 400 cases of the virus, significantly higher than any other European country.

The southwest London school is one of more than 40 schools in the UK that has been affected since the outbreak in Italy during ski season with some schools shut indefinitely and others sending pupils home as they await assessments.

Thomas’s Battersea, where Princess Charlotte started in September last year, issued a statement to Spanish news site El Confidencial confirming the measures the school had taken.

“Like all schools, we are taking very seriously the potential risks related to the spread of Covid-19 and to this end we are following the Government’s instructions to the letter on infection prevention and case management in which it is suspected that some staff members or students exposed to the virus or showing any symptoms.”

At the time of writing New Zealand is yet to have any confirmed cases of the virus.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte and Prince George at Thomas’s Battersea on Charlotte’s first day of school last year. (Image: Getty)

The measures taken at George and Charlotte’s school falls on the week they returned from mid-term break.

The Duke of Cambridge confirmed earlier this week that the royal siblings had spent time at their country home Anmer Hall in Norfolk, adding they’d had their first try at lambing over their holidays.

Chatting to primary school teacher Rhian Roberts at a rugby match in Cardiff, Wales, Prince William said: “Charlotte wasn’t sure at first but George was straight in there.

“Louis loves the tractors. They love seeing the lambs and feeding the lambs,” he added.

Prince William revealed his three children tried lambing for the first time over the school break. (Image: Duchess of Cambridge /@KensingtonRoyal)

Four-year-old Charlotte started school in September following in the footsteps of her big brother George, 6, who started at the same school in 2017.

The $34,300-a-year school is just a stone’s throw away from Kensington Palace and schools boys and girls between the ages of four and 13.

The school places high importance on kindness and empathy, with one of the school’s core values being kindness.

“We expect pupils at Thomas’s to be kind, to be good friends to those around them, always on the lookout for those in need of a word of encouragement or a listening ear,” the school’s website explains.

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