Royal Watch News

Queen Mother wanted Prince Charles at Eton

Jan 28, 2013, 12:02 GMT

Prince Charles

Queen Elizabeth's mother warned her not to send Prince Charles to boarding school in Scotland.

The heir to the throne's grandmother feared he would be 'terribly cut off and lonely' if he attended Gordonstoun in north Scotland, and suggested he go to Eton College in Windsor, much closer to home.

However, Prince Philip ruled his eldest son would attend his old school, which Charles later described as 'Colditz in kilts'.

In a previously unpublished letter from 1961, The Queen Mother questioned the diverse religious ethos of Gordonstoun, which was founded by an experimental German-Jewish educator, saying: 'It's always a tricky one with the heir to the throne', and adding a trip to Eton 'would solve many difficulties, one being religion.'

Charles' stint at Gordonstoun saw him forced on morning runs throughout the year, and cold showers.

He has referred to the school as 'hell' and a 'prison' and described a cruel initiation ceremony in 1962 where he was caged naked in a wicker basket and left under a cold shower.

As well as Charles, his brothers Andrew and Edward were educated at the school, as were the queen's grandchildren Peter and Zara Phillips.