He is said to have hated school as a student, but later said he learned a lot about himself at Gordonstoun.
The name Gordonstoun may sound familiar to anyone who loves Netflix's hit series The Crown, about the lives of the British royal family.
In one part of the second season we see that II. Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, disagree over the education of their eldest son, Charles. While, according to the Queen, a boy with a sensitive soul needs an institution where he is supported and understood and where he can develop, Fulop, who often suffers from insecurities in his role as head of the family, insists that his first-born son attend the institution in which he spent 5 years.
Although Prince Philip decided in favor of his wife in everything else, he showed no willingness to compromise regarding his son's education. As the first heir to the royal throne who was not educated at home, III. At the age of thirteen, Caroli was forced to follow in his father's footsteps and enroll in Gordonstoun boarding school in Scotland.
He must have hated that.
According to public opinion and the series, Caroli hated the institution, famous for its strictness and discipline, which was founded in 1934 by Kurt Hahn, who fled Nazi Germany to Great Britain, and where Prince Philip himself initially struggled.
As you can see in the series, students ran 50-100 yards to start the day, if necessary, in snow, mud or hot sun. For a while, Karolyi also usually lived in the same dormitory of at least 4 people as the rest of his peers, and in the series, Prince Philip often looks at the brick wall surrounding the campus and claims that he also participated in its construction.
So the royals were no exception, but Karolyi found his place at school: he sailed, sang, played the trumpet and cello, studied languages, obtained excellent grades, and joined the theater circle, where he was considered an outstanding talent. . His parents also watched his performances, his chairs were marked only as “Mom” and “Dad”, and they sat in the same place with the other parents.
During his school years, the king participated in an exchange program in Australia, which was said to be more difficult than the Gordonstoun program, where he said he cut firewood to heat the boilers and kitchen himself, and on weekends they went on expeditions into the Australian wilderness.
In 1967, he graduated from Gordonstoun University with above-average results, and from there he went straight to Cambridge University, where, to the great surprise of the royal family, he studied archaeology and anthropology rather than political science.
He doesn't mind studying here.
In the years following his ordination, the Duke stated in numerous British newspapers and speeches that although Gordonstoun was indeed difficult, he felt lucky to be there. According to him, he learned a lot about himself, his abilities and how to deal with challenges, and the years he spent there were not at all as terrible as is commonly believed in the British public's mind.
“I didn't enjoy school as much as I would have liked, but that's only because I was happier at home than anywhere else,” he told The Observer in 1974.
