Latest news:Prince William and Kate Middleton Just Gave Prince George What Could be His “Only Opportunity” for Important Kingship Lesson:see more.

Unlike royal generations of the past, Prince George has been raised in relative privacy—but as he gets older, the future King will be introduced to more aspects of royal life.

While George and his younger siblings Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, took part in the VE Day 80th anniversary parade and balcony appearance on May 5, Prince William and Kate Middleton surprised the public by bringing their 11-year-old son for a special solo outing later in the day. According to one royal expert, it gave George the rare chance to encounter history up close and personal—something that will benefit him one day when he becomes King.

Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told the Mirror that bringing George to the event was a major step in his journey to the throne. “I love seeing him at football matches when he can let his hair down,” she said. “But at big events like this, he looks as if he is taking it all in, and understanding that his life will be punctuated by national occasions where his will be a key role.”

Bond continued that last week’s event—which marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe—”may be the only opportunity George will ever have of speaking to men and women who served their King and country during the war.”

It’s a lesson that will serve him well in the future,” she continued. “One day he will be Chief of the Armed Forces himself, and he may well look back at some of those conversations and be glad that he had the chance to meet some of the few remaining veterans.”