What William and Kate have shared about Prince George's life as a teen

Originally appeared on E! Online

Time has royally flown by because Prince George is officially a teenager.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s firstborn turned 13 years old July 22.

In honor of the occasion, a new portrait of the teen wearing a white button-up shirt and dark suit was posted to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Instagram account. They also thanked fans for their well-wishes with a video that showed George enjoying a day at the beach, where he played cricket, pet family dog Otto, went boating and climbed rocks with 8-year-old brother Prince Louis.

For many, it seems like just yesterday William and Kate were bringing their eldest son—also big brother to 11-year-old Princess Charlotte—home from St. Mary’s Hospital in London. Now, George is almost as tall as his mom and has already reached her shoe size.

"They’re getting big now," Kate told a fan in a video shared on social media from her visit to London’s Natural History Museum in September. "George is already in my shoes."

READ Prince George, Now a Teenager, Looks So Much Like Prince William in 13th Birthday Portrait

And one day, he'll have even bigger kicks to fill, currently second in line to the throne behind his dad William and Grandpa King Charles III.

"There’s lots of things to think about with that," William noted on an October episode of The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy. "But obviously, I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do and a world and a job that actually does impact people’s lives for the better. That is caveated with I hope we don’t go back to some of the practices in the past that Harry and I had to grow up in. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure we don’t regress in that situation."

But while the increased attention and pressure looms, for now, George is just focused on starting high school. This fall, he will begin studying at the prestigious boys’ boarding school Eton College, which William and his younger brother Prince Harry also attended once they turned 13. And it looks like the future pupil already excels in one particular subject.

"George, my son, is way better at history than I am," William admitted to Eugene Levy. "I have to check with him now on my dates."

As for his own personal calendar, it's chock full of royal engagements—like the Trooping the Colour he attended with his family in June—as well as service visits. Last December, he and William helped with holiday preparations at the homelessness charity The Passage (the same organization the late Princess Diana once visited with William and Harry).

However, William and Kate believe they need to leave room amid all that business for a bit of pleasure.

"Getting the balance of work and family life right is really important," he added in the series. "Because, for me, the most important thing in my life is family, and everything is about the future and about, if you don’t start the children off now with a happy, healthy, stable home, I feel you’re setting them up for a bit of a hard time and a fall. So, it’s about making sure that we can look after our families, look after our children in a way that we feel is best for their future."

That includes ensuring their kids have as normal a life as possible. George's love of sports has brought the family out to watch matches at Wimbledon and cheer on soccer squad Aston Villa. He’s also apparently gotten more into music. Although, Kate has indicated there can be a bit of a debate about what to blast during school drop-off.

"Everyone wants different songs," she revealed in an Instagram video from her June visit to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. "Charlotte wants Taylor Swift. George wants more rock. He loves AC/DC. He plays the guitar. And then Louis wants Alex Warren."

Another familiar debate revolves around screen time.

“It’s really hard,” William admitted to Luciano Huck in a clip shared by Sky News from his November visit to Brazil. "Our children don’t have phones. I think when George moves on to secondary school then maybe he might have a phone that has no internet access. It’s getting to the point where it’s becoming a little bit of a tense issue. But I think he understands why. We communicate why we don’t think it’s right. And again, I think it’s the internet access I have a problem with. I think children can access too much stuff they don’t need to see online."

If you’ve been debating whether you should brush up on more royal news, keep reading.