Prince George starts his first day at school accompanied by Prince William

And Kensington Palace were live tweeting...

Prince George starts his first day of primary school today, with the four-year-old arriving at Thomas's Battersea this morning hand in hand with his father, The Duke of Cambridge.

The private prep school (costing a whopping £17k a term) has a strong focus on arts, sport and the outdoors, championing kindness, and boasting famous alumni from Cara Delevingne to Florence Welch.

Despite Kensington Palace announcing last week that the Prince would be accompanied by both his mother and father for his first day, the Duchess of Cambridge was forced to pull out of attending last minute due to chronic morning sickness.

'Prince George will this morning attend his first day of school at Thomas's Battersea, accompanied by his father The Duke of Cambridge,' Kensington Palace announced on Twitter, before sharing a throwback photo of Princes William and Harry starting school to commemorate the occasion.

Prince William and Prince George were met on arrival at the school by the Head of Lower School, Helen Haslem, who escorted the father and son to Prince George's reception classroom.

The Duchess of Cambridge wasn't able to attend due to crippling morning sickness, with the couple announcing they were expecting their third child just this week.

'As with her previous two pregnancies, The Duchess is suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum,' read a statement from Kensington Palace, released on Monday. 'The Duchess is being cared for at Kensington Palace.’

We're sure Kate will be sad to have missed the milestone, but we have no doubt that once her morning sickness clears she will be a regular at the school gates.

You would be forgiven for presuming that Prince George's nanny would be doing the school run each day – especially given that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s roles have changed, taking on more official responsibility.

But in fact, Prince William and Kate Middleton are set to pick Prince George up from school every day unless their work schedules permit them from doing so, with the news coming as little surprise after Kate told fellow parents ‘I may see you at the school gates’ back in April.

‘They are very hands on parents and although they acknowledge that it might cause a bit of a buzz to start with, they are hopeful it will soon settle down’, a source told the Daily Mail.

‘It’s very important to both of them that George enjoys as normal a childhood as possible, particularly as he settles into a new school, and for them this includes dropping him off at the school gates.’