King Charles had some of his most important early experiences in Scotland. There were family holidays at Balmoral, but it was his education at Gordonstoun in Moray that left scars he struggled to heal.
The young prince was educated at home until he was nine. Then it was prep school, where he was teased about his ears and called “fatty”.
A sensitive, thin-skinned lad, his grandmother, the Queen Mother, argued for him to be sent to Eton. It’s near Windsor and was where many of his parents’ friends chose for their sons. But the Duke of Edinburgh, who had already tried to toughen Charles up by teaching him to swim and ride, had other ideas.
The heir to the throne would go to his own old school, in a remote part of the north-east of Scotland, to build things, run around freezing fields, wash in icy water and sleep in a grim dormitory. Gordonstoun was founded in 1934 by Kurt Hahn, a German Jew who had escaped Hitler. The Duke of Edinburgh was one of its first pupils.
It was based in a 17th-century stone building surrounded by prefabs that had been RAF barracks. The 13-year-old prince arrived in 1962 with his father, who flew him to the RAF base in Lossiemouth then drove him the rest of the way. From the very start, he struggled to fit in.
In later years, Charles referred to his time at Gordonstoun as “a prison sentence” and “Colditz in kilts”. His weekly letters home left the family in no doubt that he was miserable. One said: “I hardly get any sleep in the House because I snore and I get hit on the head all the time. It’s absolute hell.”
Two years in, it had not improved. Another letter said: “The people in my dormitory are foul. They throw slippers all night long or hit me with pillows… Last night was hell, literal hell. I wish I could come home.”
Hahn’s theory was that vigorous outdoor activities, performed while wearing very little, would build character. So the boys wore shorts all year. The day began with a run before breakfast, followed by a numbingly cold shower. As well as academic subjects there were endless sports.
This had suited the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been captain of the cricket and hockey team. But by the time Charles went to Gordonstoun, it was clear he was not a natural sportsman. One of his classmates said: “Bullying was virtually institutionalised and very rough.”
Prince Charles was an average student, ploughing dutifully through his lessons. He’d already discovered a gift for acting and excelled in school productions. As well as being a break from the endless outdoor exercise, these were also a rare chance to meet members of the opposite sex. Girls from Elgin Academy came to the school to play the female parts in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
After another young teacher, Eric Anderson, joined the staff, there were several Shakespeare plays. In 1965 it was Macbeth, with the future king playing the paranoid ruler. It was hard for Charles to make friends his own age. Any boys who showed him any attention were rewarded with slurping noises, indicating they were sucking up.
One of the school governors, Captain Iain Tennant, was a family friend. He invited Charles to spend weekends away from school, where the young prince could relax and sob in private. Charles also relied heavily on Donald Green, the bodyguard who became a father figure and did what he could to mitigate the miserable time his young charge was having.
One of the most famous incidents from Charles’s time at Gordonstoun happened on the Isle of Lewis. The second years had sailed across the Minch and were taken to a pub in Stornoway. There, the 14-year-old heir to the throne ordered a cherry brandy. Unfortunately for him, there was a newspaper reporter in the bar. The prince’s underage drink made headlines round the world.
“I said the first drink that came into my head,” he explained afterwards, “because I’d drunk it before, when it was cold, out shooting.” It was such a scandal that Donald Green was fired, leaving Charles without one of his closest allies.
Years later, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh admitted to their biographer that Gordonstoun had not been their best idea. Charles was, they said, “a square peg in a round hole,” and cold showers and endless rugby did not change that.
The future king continued to complain about Gordonstoun well into his 60s – although he did tell the House of Lords in the 70s: “I am always astonished by the amount of rot talked about Gordonstoun and the careless use of ancient clichés used to describe it.” His own sons, however, went to Eton.
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