The sweet reason Prince George was “so upset” about his parents’ latest royal visit

"The children are not going to believe I did this."

Temperatures are dropping, best winter coats season is incoming, and the Cambridge children are officially back to school.

After months of pandemic-induced homeschooling at Anmer Hall, Prince William and Kate Middleton's two eldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, are embarking on the autumn term at their London school, Thomas's Battersea. And though he may have just turned eight (feel old yet?), it's reported that Kate and William are already considering which secondary school will be best suited to their eldest son.

While Prince Harry and Prince William attended Eton College, and Scotland's Gordonstoun was the alma mater of the late Duke of Edinburgh and his three sons Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, it's been reported that George might instead follow in the footsteps of his mother, and attend the co-educational Marlborough College in Wiltshire.

Luckily, though, little George doesn't have to worry about the transition to secondary school just yet – and besides, he's got more important things on mind. Like, say, the fact that his father got to handle a snake on his most recent royal visit, and he missed out on all the fun.

Yes, touching down in Northern Ireland yesterday, Kate and William swapped their red carpet glad rags for more casual attire as they toured the University of Ulster's Magee campus in Derry, and chatted with some of the students. They even stopped off at the campus' petting zoo, where William was overhead making a sweet reference to Prince George.

Getting acquainted with one of the petting zoo's pythons, Hello reports that William mentioned his eldest child's love of the animal, joking, "George is going to be so upset. The children are not going to believe I did this."

William was pictured holding the snake carefully, and reportedly quipped when he was told by the handler that it was female, "I won't ask you how you know it's a she, we'll talk about that later."

Kate, meanwhile, calmly handled a tarantula (as you do), and reportedly spoke of the family's own animals, including their "lots of chickens".

"We’ve had lots of animals during lockdown," Kate was overhead saying. "During lockdown, animals are often like therapy."

Not forgetting, of course, the Cambridge family dog – a black spaniel whom they adopted from Kate's brother, James Middleton, earlier this year.