Even royals aren't exempt from school — but you may be surprised at how far some of them got.
Who knew the future king could balance his studies and a budding talent for dodging flying slippers?
When a young Princess Elizabeth was growing up, her entire life was turned
upside down by two cataclysmic events — the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII,
and World War II. The former put her in direct line to the British throne, and the latter
endangered the entirety of Europe and forced Elizabeth into the countryside for safety.
While evacuated at Windsor Castle, Elizabeth's education
was carried on at the hands of tutors. Elizabeth was educated mostly at home,
as schooling was still very male dominated in the 1940s and 1950s. Still,
her future role as queen heightened the level of importance within her education,
and she spent much of her time with her father, King George VI, learning the ropes of the job.
"Princess Elizabeth as she then was, took her cue from her father, from his sense of duty."
Henry Marten, who was the then-vice-provost of Eton College also tutored
the then-princess, and she further received education from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Pursuing even more academic areas with a governess, the future queen learned French in
addition to her studies in politics and history, greatly setting her up for success as the monarch.
Then-Princess Elizabeth's younger sister, Princess Margaret, did not
enjoy such educational privileges. In the BBC documentary "Princess Margaret: The Rebel
Royal," Margaret's former lady-in-waiting, Lady Anne Glenconner, said she believed her
education was put on the back burner in order to serve Elizabeth wholeheartedly, saying:
"[Princess Margaret] always said, 'I was never educated as well as
my sister in order not to be a sort of threat to her,' that's what she felt."
Glenconner's estimations about Margaret's education were furthered by another
lady-in-waiting, Jane Stevens, who highlighted just how aware Margaret
was of the lack of interest in her own educational pursuits. Stevens explained:
"She said to me, 'That was the first time I sort of thought or realized that my sister
was going to be queen and I wouldn't really be part of what she was going to do.' It hit
her quite hard that their lives were going to be completely different."
To say that the late Prince Philip's life started in turmoil is a huge understatement.
After his father was imprisoned and his uncle abdicated from the Greek throne,
Philip was forced to evacuate the country. At just 18 months old, Philip was placed in a cot and put
on the Royal Navy ship leaving Corfu. The prince excelled as a student despite the disruptions that
plagued his early years, and he threw himself into life as an academic quite naturally.
By the mid-1920s, Philip was living in France and started attending school there,
before moving to England and enrolling at Cheam Preparatory School in Surrey. By the age of 12,
he was on the move again to Germany, where he studied under academic Kurt Hahn at Salem School.
“It was quite revolutionary to have Charles go to a school like
Cheam and eventually to Gordonstoun, the school that his father went to.”
Shortly thereafter, Philip attended the Gordonstoun School where he excelled in
sailing and became the captain of the hockey and cricket teams as well as the head boy.
A famously shy child who expressed far more emotion than his father seemingly cared for,
King Charles III attended boarding school at the age of 13, something that was out
of the norm for heirs, as they were typically taught by private tutors.
However, Charles faced constant bullying that defined his experience at Gordonstoun. According
to Reuters, writer William Boyd attended Gordonstoun at the same time as Charles
and further expressed that the now-king saw his time at boarding school as akin to imprisonment.
Charles' experience at boarding school was further discussed by Jonathan Dimbleby,
who wrote an extensive biography of Charles entitled "The Prince of Wales:
A Biography." Dimbleby outlined how the bullying shaped the man that Charles would become,
writing that Charles insisted that his time there instilled a sense of self-discipline
and responsibility. But he also recalled the young prince's account of the bullying, writing:
"The people in my dormitory are foul. They throw slippers
all night long or hit me with pillows […] I still wish I could come home."
Though her brother faced an awful amount of torment while at boarding school,
his sister Princess Anne, thrived in the environment.
"I did volunteer to go to school,
I have to say. And I was thrilled. School was much more interesting."
Anne attended the Benenden School located in Kent, and now serves as the president of the Benenden
School Society. She spoke about her experience as a boarder during an extensive interview
with Vanity Fair, highlighting the differences between her education and Charles'. She admitted:
"I was ready to go to school. I had a governess and two friends and that
was never going to be enough, really, so I was only too pleased to be sent off somewhere else."
Anne went on to speak in favor of boarding school,
insisting that it helps some students thrive and saying -
"One of the other charities I got involved with was [...] the Royal National Children's
SpringBoard Foundation and takes children from chaotic homes and sends them to boarding schools.
You only have to listen to them to realize that it's absolutely transformed their lives."
For Andrew's schooling experience, he followed a relatively similar path of ending his educational
career at a boarding school, while also expanding his education beyond Great Britain.
Like his siblings, Andrew was largely educated by a tutor as a young child growing up at Buckingham
Palace, but after attending primary school, he enrolled at Gordonstoun. How his path differed,
however, was that he also spent time abroad, attending Lakefield College School in Ontario,
Canada, before his schooling time was up. Taking things one step further than his father
and older brother, Andrew then enrolled at the Britannia Royal Naval College in 1979, starting
his career as an officer in the Royal Navy. Once that portion of his school was complete,
Andrew completed pilot's training and capped off his complete schooling in 1981 when he
earned his pilot's wings. Of course, Andrew had his military titles stripped due to the
ongoing scandal involving him and his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Like his father and two older brothers, Prince Edward enrolled at Gordonstoun
School and boarded there as a teen, before furthering his education at Jesus College
at Cambridge. Edward studied history while at the school, and later pursued a career in the
armed forces. Instead of the Royal Navy like his brother and father before him, Edward chose
the Royal Marines and maintained his commission until 1987, before making the decision to retire.
Though his education followed a similar path to what his brothers and father had done before him,
Edward pursued a number of professional interests given that his role as a member
of the royal family was of lesser magnitude than King Charles III. Studying under famed
composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, Edward went on to work in the theater community and set up his own
production company in the late 1980s. After that venture left Edward about $1 million in debt,
he then made strides toward the film industry, and his role in the royal family today has expanded.
Prince William, the now Prince of Wales,
has had an impressive educational path and has gone farther than most of his family members,
no doubt due to his role as the now direct heir to the throne.
His mother, the late Princess Diana, was adamant that William had as normal of a
schooling experience as possible, so he was enrolled at the Wetherby School in London
as a young student. After his time there was over, William enrolled at the Ludgrove
School in Berkshire and was there for five years before attending the prestigious Eton College.
Famously, William then enrolled at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in the early 2000s.
While there, he studied geography and art history, before spending a year traveling and working for
charities that his mother aligned herself with during her lifetime. After graduating in 2005,
William took things one step further and enrolled in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Though
he did not serve foreign tours during his time in the military, William completed armed
forces service as an RAF Search and Rescue Force officer, and later trained as a helicopter pilot.
"Doing a job like this is worthwhile, valuable."
Unsurprisingly, Prince Harry's educational path looks quite similar to that of his older brother,
Prince William. Like William, Harry was a student at a number of private schools
before attending Eton College. After studying there and graduating in 2003,
Harry decided to travel and work rather than expand his schooling, which led him to Argentina,
Africa, and Australia. During this period of his life, Harry spent the bulk of his time working at
an orphanage in Lesotho, a meaningful connection in his life that he has maintained to this day.
Afterwards, Harry decided to pursue a career in the military and enrolled at Sandhurst,
graduating in May 2005 and becoming an officer in April 2006. When he did so,
British military officials made their hesitations clear about him serving
overseas. Given Harry and William's heightened profiles as members of the royal family,
military leaders were concerned that their presence in overseas territories would put
their fellow service members at risk. Though William took this to heart and contained his
service to Great Britain, Harry went on to serve two tours in Afghanistan.
Camilla, Queen Consort had a more limited educational experience being the young,
female child of an aristocratic family. Camilla's family was an upper-class,
well-to-do bunch and Camilla spent most of her childhood at the family's country estate,
located in East Sussex. It was there that she discovered her love of equestrian-related sports
and all things outdoors, two passions that have carried on to this day. After spending
time at the estate, Camilla attended the Queen's Gate School located in London but
her role as an up-and-coming lady put a bit of a wrench in her academic pursuits.
After Queen's Gate School, Camilla's family sent her to Switzerland where she attended
finishing school — the poshest education about how to be a lady. From there, she went to the
University of London Institute located in Paris, before returning to Great Britain. In 1965,
she was presented to society as a debutante, and her life as an upper-class girl ready to get
married officially took off. Camilla later worked as a receptionist while indulging in
the London social scene, before getting married to her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles.
Times, thankfully, have changed since the daughters of upper-class families
have been seen for their potential as wives rather than academic thinkers themselves,
and Princess Catherine is a great example of this. Due
to her parents' successful business and heightened roles within their community,
Catherine attended prep school and later Marlborough College located in Wiltshire,
England. While at Marlborough, Catherine excelled both academically and athletically,
becoming the captain of the field hockey team and establishing herself as a very secure student.
After completing her time at Marlborough, Catherine went on to apply and be accepted
to the University of St. Andrews. There, she studied art history — and just so happened to
meet a fellow art history student, Prince William. The two lived together as friends
before taking their relationship to the next level, and of course, the rest is history.
After leaving St. Andrews, Catherine worked in the fashion industry as well as for her parents'
company, while also establishing herself with a number of charities. Her nonprofit
work has continued tenfold as her time in the royal family has grown and her role expanded.
As the royal family continues to grow, much attention has been paid to the education that
Prince William and Princess Catherine are affording their three children,
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. When he was younger,
George was enrolled at St. Thomas's School in Battersea,
as the family was living at London's Kensington Palace at the time. As their children grew,
the couple expressed their desire to give them as normal of a childhood as possible — and
William and Catherine relocated to Windsor and enrolled their children at the Lambrook School.
As for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet,
their schooling in the United States has yet to be established given their young ages.