A young King Charles was bullied mercilessly at the school he dubbed ‘Colditz in Kilts’ – but his brother, the Duke of York, fought back and “was just as good with the verbals as with his fists”.
Charles and Andrew were both packed off to Gordonstoun, a remote boarding school on the north coast of Scotland. But while a sensitive Charles struggled, his younger sibling had a thicker skin – and reportedly became a “leader of the pack”.
Their father, Prince Philip, had been adamant that the future King attended the same school that he went to – and had been happy at – in the hope that its austere environment would toughen him up.
Margaret Rhodes, the Queen’s cousin and confidante, said: “Gordonstoun was supposed to ‘make a man out of him’, although I never really understood what that meant.”
When Charles attended the school it was not heated and its dormitory windows were left wide open – even in the winter. His bed was next to a window and he often woke to find his bedding frozen with frost, says Nigel Cawthorne in ‘War Of The Windsors: The Inside Story Of Charles, Andrew And The Rivalry That Has Defined The Royal Family’.
And every morning, even in the snow, Charles had to endure a pre-dawn run – shirtless and in shorts – followed by an icy shower. But even worse than this was the horrific bullying dished out to the boy who would become King.
In one incident, the 13-year-old King was grabbed as he came out of the showers, tied up and bundled into a wicker laundry basket – which was hung from a wall and blasted with freezing water. He was left there – naked and shivering – for half an hour until a staff member heard his distressed cries, the book claims.
It also says the prince suffered regular beatings in the darkness of the dormitory at night – and on the rugby pitch, where boys would boast that they had punched the future King of England.
Charles suffered a broken nose during one of these on-field assaults – but he did not complain, out of fear that it would only make the bullying worse, reports the Mail Online.
However, his brother Andrew is said to have had a very different experience at Gordonstoun. By the time he attended, the rooms were centrally heated and carpeted – and the showers were now hot.
And while the bullying continued, Andrew is said to have fought back – and become “a leader of the pack”. One school master said: “If anyone tries to take the mickey out of him, he fights back. He’s just as good with the verbals as with his fists.”
- War Of The Windsors: The Inside Story Of Charles, Andrew And The Rivalry That Has Defined The Royal Family, by Nigel Cawthorne, will be published on August 31.
