Blunt: boarding school is out of bounds for my children

JAMES BLUNT has revealed that he will never send his children to boarding school, despite his own experience giving him “huge opportunity”.

The Harrow-educated singer, 49, has two young sons with socialite Sofia Wellesley, his wife of 10 years.

Speaking on the Full Disclosure podcast, the singer said: “I wouldn’t want to send my children to boarding school because I would miss out on them. I am sure they would have a beneficial time but I wouldn’t get the pleasure of their company.”

Blunt was sent to board at Elstree School aged seven before attending the all-boys boarding school Harrow, whose famous alumni include Sir Winston Churchill and Lord Byron.

His wife, meanwhile, is thought to have gone to school on the Spanish island of Majorca, where her parents Lord and Lady John Henry Wellesley have a home.

She later graduated from Edinburgh University and law school before becoming a lawyer. The 40-year-old is the granddaughter of the late Arthur Valerian Wellesley, the 8th Duke of Wellington.

The couple have never revealed the names of their two children, but in 2016 Blunt confirmed while speaking at the Oxford Union they had welcomed a son.

Blunt, who served in the British Army before becoming a musician, recalled his own school days, including when his parents dropped him off at Elstree’s gates “with a Nintendo game and said goodbye”.

His father was an Army helicopter pilot and the singer said that going to private schools gave him “stability” away from his military-based parents, but he admitted it still came as a “shock to the system”. “That was a weird moment being dropped off at boarding school,” he said.

“They put their heads around the corner and said goodbye and three days later I asked the matron, ‘When am I going to see my parents?’ and the matron said ‘Christmas time’ and it certainly came as a surprise.”

The singer has previously noted that boarding school gives children a beneficial sense of independence, but also that it can make them “emotionally stunted”.

He has also said that being a present and “hands-on” parent to his sons is important to him.