Gordonstoun hits back at TV drama depicting misery of young Prince
IT is the school famously described by Prince Charles as ‘Colditz in kilts’.
The five years he spent at Gordonstoun, near Elgin, Moray, in the 1960s were, he said, ‘like a prison sentence’ because of the punishing outdoor regime and bullying he suffered at the hands of pupils.
Now, with the release of the second series of Netflix hit series The Crown, which features the young Prince’s time at his father’s alma mater, the school has issued a press release highlighting differing accounts he gave of his time there.
The Crown depicts an unhappy Charles struggling with crosscountry runs and hostile classmates.
But Gordonstoun has pointed to a speech the Prince made in the House of Lords, as well as an interview printed in the Observer Magazine, to suggest that he has a more nuanced perspective of his education than the drama suggests.
In a House of Lords speech in 1975, given as he launched the Prince’s Trust, Charles said: ‘I am always astonished by the amount of rot talked about Gordonstoun and the careless use of ancient clichés used to describe it.
‘It was only tough in the sense that it demanded more of you as an individual than most other schools did – mentally or physically. I am lucky in that I believe it taught me a great deal about myself and my own abilities and disabilities.’
Similarly, in an Observer Magazine interview the previous year, the Prince said: ‘I’m glad I went to Gordonstoun. It wasn’t the toughness of the place – that’s all exaggerated by report – it was the general character of the education.
‘I didn’t enjoy school as much as I might have, but that was only because I’m happier at home than anywhere else.’
Prince Philip thrived during his own time at the school in the 1930s, and was determined Charles would follow in his footsteps. But in letters to the Queen, the Prince described Gordonstoun as ‘absolute hell’. In 1963 he wrote: ‘The people in my dormitory are foul. They throw slippers all night long or hit me with pillows... I wish I could come home.’
One source said: ‘Perhaps it is a case of what seemed so terrible at the time, just doesn’t feel as bad with the benefit of hindsight.’
Clarence House declined to comment last night