Prince William’s Longtime Friend Is Engaged to a Teacher at George’s School

A textbook romance! Prince William’s longtime friend Thomas van Straubenzee is engaged to a teacher at Prince George’s school.

The Sunday Times reported that Van Straubenzee, 36, proposed to Lucy Lanigan-O’Keeffe last week. The bride-to-be, 31, is the assistant head teacher at the Clapham location of Thomas’s London Day School. She also teaches outdoor learning and mindfulness at the Battersea location, where George, 5, attends.

According to the U.K. newspaper, William, 37, was one of the first people to hear about the news. He will reportedly be an usher at the couple’s wedding, while George and his sister, Princess Charlotte, are expected to be a page boy and a bridesmaid, respectively. Charlotte, 4, is Van Straubenzee’s goddaughter.

Van Straubenzee has been friends with William and Prince Harry since they attended Ludgrove School together as children. The real estate agent was a guest at the royal brothers’ 2011 and 2018 weddings to Duchess Kate and Duchess Meghan, respectively. Thomas’ brother Charlie van Straubenzee is rumored to be named the godfather of Harry and Meghan’s 1-month-old son, Archie.

This will be the second wedding for the businessman, who was previously married to fashion designer Lady Melissa Percy from 2013 to 2016.

George has been a student at Thomas’s Battersea since 2017. The Duke of Cambridge escorted his eldest child to his first day of school that September while a then-pregnant Kate, 37, rested at home during her battle with hyperemesis gravidarum. She gave birth to Prince Louis seven months later.

Charlotte will join her big brother at Thomas’s Battersea starting in September. “We greatly look forward to welcoming her and all of our new pupils to the school,” headmaster Simon O’Malley said in a statement.

Source: Read Full Article