The truth: No babies for breakfast

On Tuesday this week, His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Windsor started school at Eton. The 13-year-old future heir to the throne is now going to a school that his father Prince William already attended - as did many nobles, politicians and celebrities. That in 1440 by King Henry VI. Eton College, founded by Eton College, is considered a training ground for the British elite and has some very strange traditions that Prince George should observe in order not to endanger the conscientious progress of his education. Here The Truth lists the 13 most important Etonian Rules and penalties for violations.

The Eton Eleven owe the cheese lover and first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) the order that every newcomer must nail a piece of cheddar under their bed, where the cheese should hang for a week. In the event of a violation, the offender must recite from memory the lyrical work “A Gest of Robyn Hode,” which is considered the longest ballad in English literature, in front of the assembled school.

The writer Simon Raven (1927–2001) was credited with the unwritten law that no babies are allowed to be eaten during breakfast together in the central dining room. Our own boogers are called “babies”; However, eating those of classmates is permitted.

Girls are just called “Rose”. Unless they are servants, then they are called “Ruby”. Under no circumstances should you be spoken to, only smiled at. If someone breaks this iron rule, they must wear “Hangman’s Slip,” a pair of 16th-century steel underpants that clink with every step, for a day.

The Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson (1964–…), known as the “Wild Etonian”, revived a tradition from the 17th century that before drinking your evening beer you have to spit into your own tankard. Anyone who doesn't has to pass the pint around to collect everyone else's saliva.

The Etonians' favorite drink is called "Wet Dog" and was first mixed by alumni Ian Fleming (1908-1964). The exact ingredients are unknown, but the drink is said to consist of gin with underarm sweat. Anyone who spills it must lick it up from the floor.

Eton students owe one of the most merciless punishments to the actor Hugh Laurie (1959–…). Anyone who lays hands on themselves and gets caught receives Sunday watching “Barnaby” ​​as penance. A torture from pre-Elizabethan times, in which a criminal inspector who is boring to the point of insensibility investigates provincially dull TV cases that cause stomach aches for hours.

One of the most important rules for the young prince is: Anyone who swears against the king must become a beggar and sleep one night in Eton's own pigsty.

The novelist Anthony Powell (1905–2000) is responsible for a special sporting tradition: not getting a cauliflower ear while playing rugby is considered a disgrace of the first degree. If necessary, as with Powell for the first time, the ear is abused to the point of nobility with a so-called “clamp”.

At the traditional “immersion festival” on November 1st, first-yearlings are dunked with their heads into a vat called “God” containing horse manure collected over the year. It is the famous “Döppen”, which is pronounced the same way and goes back to a royal tradition of the royal family with its German roots in the Victorian era.

Particularly important! Anyone who does not address a teacher as “Sir” is chased with nettle whips through the dormitory to the roof, where the student has to spend the night without being allowed to refuse his water.

One of the college's most feared punishments can be traced back to the time of the later writer George Orwell (1903-1950) at Eton: Anyone who misses church service on Sundays has to go to "Tea with the Vicar" on Mondays, a mysterious and unsavory exercise.

A still very modern rule is: Anyone who joins the mysterious “Winter Sports Club” should be born with a silver nose. Otherwise, it will be expensive to get all the white powder for your fellow students.

The so-called “Coconut Decree” from the 19th century is considered a ritual that, according to today’s educational standards, is part of black pedagogy. Each student must make a pun using “butt” and “coconut” at least once a day. If this is not followed, the perpetrator is required to perform songs that are roughly comparable to Mallorca hits such as “Finger im Po Mexico.”

Whether little Prince George will survive Eton College unscathed despite all these mysterious and cruel rules remains to be seen in the next few years. However, most Eton graduates are notorious for their huge size.