- Title: Back to school with the now King Charles III: what was Gordonstoun like?
- Date: 25th May 2022
- Summary: ELGIN, MORAY, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - MARCH 2, 2022) (REUTERS) DRAMA TEACHER, JACK HOSKINS AND STUDENTS WITHIN OGSTOUN THEATRE, ENTERING THE MAIN THEATRE SPACE FOR A DRAMA LESSON VARIOUS OF HOSKINS SPEAKING TO THE STUDENTS VARIOUS OF STUDENTS TAKING PART IN DRAMA ACTIVITY 71-YEAR-OLD RETIRED TEACHER, ALISON STOCKLEY - WHO PERFORMED WITH PRINCE CHARLES - LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS (PLEASE NOTE STOCKLEY DID NOT TEACH AT GORDONSTOUN) STOCKLEY LOOKING AT IMAGES TAKEN DURING A PRODUCTION OF ‘PATIENCE’ THAT SHE WAS IN WITH PRINCE CHARLES IN 1965 (SOUNDBITE) (English) 71-YEAR-OLD RETIRED TEACHER, ALISON STOCKLEY, SAYING: "Well, just to be involved in the Gordonstoun production was always exciting because it was different, and it was a change from the normal. So that was exciting. And then when we discovered that Prince Charles was going to be involved too, I suppose, yes, it did make it more exciting, except that we were quite used to him being up here. He was seen in shops. He was involved in other things in the community. And so it was, it wasn't in a way surprising because he was, we knew he was very musical." VARIOUS OF STOCKLEY LOOKING AT PROGRAMME AND IMAGES FROM ‘THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE’ (PLEASE NOTE PRINCE CHARLES IS NOT CLEARLY SEEN) (SOUNDBITE) (English) 71-YEAR-OLD RETIRED TEACHER, ALISON STOCKLEY, SAYING: "He was the Pirate King, and he carried it off very well. He certainly had stage presence and it's a very good singer." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) 71-YEAR-OLD RETIRED TEACHER, ALISON STOCKLEY, ASKED WHAT KIND OF PERSON PRINCE CHARLES WAS, SAYING: "Just one of the boys, that's how I remember him. And he just joined in as we all did and did his bit. And yes, I mean, very happy memories of just a good time." COASTGUARD TOWER VARIOUS OF STUDENTS INSIDE TOWER LOOKING AT MAP COASTLINE / STUDENTS DEMONSTRATING SEARCH AND RESCUE STUDENTS WALKING STUDENTS WALKING, COASTGUARD TOWER IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) 18-YEAR-OLD, YEAR 13 STUDENT, ELIZABETH SMETHURST, SAYING: "I think it’s really nice that over the years this practice although it’s changed and developed it’s still carried on and at the end of the day it’s the same skills we’re developing that Prince Charles will have developed years before." ELGIN, MORAY, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - MARCH 3, 2022) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF WINDMILL LODGE, BOARDING HOUSE WHERE PRINCE CHARLES STAYED (NOW IT'S ONE OF THREE GIRLS BOARDING HOUSES) EXTERIOR OF WINDOW IN PRINCE CHARLES’ OLD ROOM STUDENT OLIVIA DIXON, WHO CURRENTLY LIVES IN PRINCE CHARLES’ OLD ROOM, OPENING DOOR AND TAKING SEAT AT DESK (SOUNDBITE) (English) 18-YEAR-OLD, YEAR 13 STUDENT, OLIVIA DIXON, SAYING: ''Sometimes it definitely does register, like on a Saturday night when we’re all getting ready for our socials in the evenings everyone seems to like congregate into my room and we always find it quite funny that this used to be his room, this used to be his dresser that we have like the ‘party’ sign on top of it, so it’s quite surreal in a way that, it’s like we’re getting ready to go out for like a social, we as he used to be in here probably doing the same thing when he was at school here.'' ORIGINAL BUREAU DESK LID PULLED DOWN / DIXON TURNING ON LIGHTS THAT READ THE WORD ‘PARTY’ DIXON MAKING DRINK ORIGINAL CHEST OF DRAWERS VARIOUS OF DIXON BRUSHING HAIR IN MIRROR (SOUNDBITE) (English) 18-YEAR-OLD, YEAR 13 STUDENT, OLIVIA DIXON, ON THE EXPERIENCE OF BOARDING, SAYING: ''Personally I loved it, I have been here since year 9.'' WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) 18-YEAR-OLD, YEAR 13 STUDENT, OLIVIA DIXON, ON THE EXPERIENCE OF BOARDING, SAYING: ''Definitely the friends I have made here, especially my boarding ones, I think I have made for life.'' ROOM, SHOWING SOFA AND ORIGINAL DESK DESK ELGIN, MORAY, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - MARCH 2, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GORDONSTOUN PRINCIPAL, LISA KERR, ASKED IF PRINCE CHARLES WAS HAPPY AT THE SCHOOL, SAYING: "I suppose everyone's school days have their ups and downs, and it's probably no surprise that the downs are more interesting from a media perspective than the ups. But interestingly, Prince Charles himself has said that he's always astonished at the amount of rot talked about Gordonstoun. And I think he said ‘the careless use of ancient cliches used to describe it’ and in and in many speeches, he's talked about the really positive impact that his time here had on his life." STUDENTS IN CANTEEN YEAR 13 STUDENT, 17-YEAR-OLD, SHARAD RAMACHANDRA, AT TABLE STUDENTS WALKING WITH LUNCH TRAYS STUDENTS SEATED AT TABLE YEAR 13 STUDENT, 17-YEAR-OLD, KEIRA WOOD-NICOL AT TABLE STUDENTS IN CANTEEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) YEAR 13 STUDENT, 17-YEAR-OLD, SHARAD RAMACHANDRA, ASKED ABOUT HIS TIME AT GORDONSTOUN, SAYING: "Life is busy, life is busy in Gordonstoun, but I think busy in a good way, in a sense where there’s never a dull moment and there is always something going on." (SOUNDBITE) (English) YEAR 13 STUDENT, 17-YEAR-OLD, KEIRA WOOD-NICOL, ASKED ABOUT HER TIME AT GORDONSTOUN, SAYING: "It doesn’t matter what you have done previously, it’s that you need to be willing to try new things and I think that’s one of the key points, is you actually really do build resilience and I think that’s a key part of this and it’s a community, so we all work together and being here has really built that sense of community and teamwork for me as well."
- Embargoed: 8th June 2022 12:09
- Keywords: Gordonstoun Platiunum jubilee Prince Charles Queen Elizabeth Royals monarchy
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: UK
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Royals
- Reuters ID: LVA009343409032022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS FOOTAGE THAT IS MONOCHROME
Britain's new King Charles III was "just one of the boys" when he was a pupil at a remote boarding school in Scotland, going about his day-to-day life and developing a later passion for the arts and environment.
Charles was 13 when, in May 1962, he began attending the picturesque private school Gordonstoun on the north coast of Scotland, where his late father Prince Philip also studied.
"For everybody at Gordonstoun, it's a huge sense of pride to have been the first school to educate an heir to the British throne," current Gordonstoun principal Lisa Kerr told Reuters during a trip to the school in March 2022, before the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday (September 8).
Speaking that the time of the then Prince of Wales, she said: "What's more powerful for us is knowing that many of the attributes which Prince Charles takes forward as monarch were developed here at Gordonstoun."
Earlier generations of British royal children had been educated by tutors at home.
Charles found aspects of school life hard, something that was highlighted in a recent series of the Netflix hit drama "The Crown."
Pupils had to go for an early morning run followed by a cold shower, and some fellow pupils recall how he was bullied.
According to biographies, he wrote home in 1963 saying: "The people in my dormitory are foul. They throw slippers all night long or hit me with pillows ... I wish I could come home."
Asked if Charles had been happy, Kerr said: "I suppose everyone's school days have their ups and downs, and it's probably no surprise that the downs are more interesting from a media perspective.
"But interestingly, Prince Charles himself has said that he's always astonished at the amount of rot talked about Gordonstoun ... in many speeches, he's talked about the really positive impact that his time here had on his life."
Describing him as a "studious young man" who went on to study at Cambridge University, Kerr said Charles, who has visited the school since leaving in 1967, would have mixed with people from a whole range of backgrounds.
She said he had enjoyed music and drama, taking part in a number of school productions.
At the time, Gordonstoun was a boys' school and girls from a nearby high school joined their casts.
One of those involved recalls the thrill of being on stage with the future king.
"Just to be involved in the Gordonstoun production was always exciting ... And then when we discovered that Prince Charles was going to be involved too ... it did make it more exciting," said retired PE teacher Alison Shockley, 71.
"We were quite used to him being up here. He was seen in shops. He was involved in other things in the community ... We knew he was very musical."
Stockley acted alongside Charles in shows including "The Pirates of Penzance", in which Charles played the Pirate King.
"He carried it off very well," she said. "(He was) just one of the boys ... He just joined in as we all did."
Since its foundation in 1934 by German educator Kurt Hahn, Gordonstoun students have got involved with the local community and Charles was a member of the coastguard, where he kept watch along the beautiful Moray coast.
Decades later, 18-year-old student Olivia Dixon is doing the same. She also boards in the same Windmill Lodge room where Charles once lived.
"It (is) quite funny that this used to be his room, this used to be his dresser that we have a 'party' sign on top of it so it's quite surreal in a way," she said.
Since leaving, King Charles has been back to the school.
He is not the only famous alumnus from the school.
Both late actor Sean Connery and singer David Bowie sent their sons to Gordonstoun.
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