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The education of the British Royal Family is the method and extent of the education of the British Royal Family.

History

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Tudor and Elizabethan eras

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The circle of the humanist scholar Erasmus, who promoted the liberal arts and sciences over military training for princes, had an influence on the education of the future Henry VIII and later the Stuart princes.[1]

Henry VIII established an elite palace school for his son Prince Edward, selecting fourteen sons of prominent aristocrats to be educated alongside him.[2] Biography Alison Weir writes: "The men who were given responsibility for the Prince's education were among the most brilliant scholars of their day."[3] Edward was taught by the Dr. Richard Cox, a clergyman who later become provost of Eton College and bishop of Ely, as well as John Cheke, the first Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge University.[4]

Historian Aysha Pollnitz writes: "While Erasmus never managed to deter English or Scottish royal boys from military training, he did succeed in tipping the scales in letters' favor: between 1534 in England, 1566 in Scotland and the outbreak of the Bishops' Wars in 1639, princes male and female spent more time learning to wield pens than swords or guns."[5] During this period, "British princes were notably bookish" in comparison to the Spanish Hapsburgs (who emphasized "bureaucratic skills, handling weapons, and orthodox piety").[6] While female royals in early modern Britain were not raised in preparation to rule and received liberal educations that were constrained in comparison to their male relatives, Mary I, Elizabeth I, Lady Jane Grey, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia all wrote letters generally praised by scholars.[7]

Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian eras

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In the 18th century, George III had his two eldest sons—his heir Prince George of Wales (later George IV), and Prince Frederick (later the Duke of York and Albany) educated in emulation of French royal custom.[8] A governor and sub-governor were appointed for the child's discipline and morals, and the preceptor and sub-preceptor for lessons concerning academic subjects.[8]

The role and public perceptions of the monarchy have changed over time,[9] raising "interesting questions about the ideal upbringing and preparation of future constitutional kings and queens, including their formal education."[10] Walter Bagehot, in his book The British Constitution, concluded that a prince's education "can be but a poor education and that a royal family will generally have less ability than other families".[11]

Historians have "assessed how well royal education has prepared monarchs for their political and ceremonial role" in British society.[12] Peter Gordon and Dennis Lawton rated the education of Queen Victoria as good, "yet in contrast no subsequent monarch (or current heir) has been anywhere near adequately educated."[12] Ross McKibbin argues that the educations of George V, Edward VIII, and George VI was "aimless" and "narrow" leaving them with the equivalent to the educations of "landed gentry with military connections."[12]

Queen Victoria's youngest son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in November 1872. He studied science, art and the modern languages but did not receive a university degree, though was eventually granted an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1876. [13][14]

George VI, the current Queen's father, attended the Royal Naval College Osborne, then used as a junior officer training facility for students of secondary school age; he finished at the bottom of his class. He studied for one year at the University of Cambridge, but did not complete an undergraduate degree.[15]

Modern era

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According to The Independent, the modern royal family "is not known for its intellectualism".[16]

The reigning queen, Elizabeth II, and her sister Margaret were the last members of the royal family to be educated by tutors in the traditional manner.[17] Elizabeth was home-schooled by her governess Marion Crawford and by private tutors, including the provost of Eton, Henry Marten, who instructed her in constitutional history.[18][19] She speaks French fluently.[16] Historian David Starkey has described Elizabeth II as poorly educated, comparing her cultural refinement and intellectual curiosity to that of a "housewife".[20]

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, studied architecture at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Richard graduated in 1966 after completing three years of a five-year architectural course; after a practical year at an office in the Ministry of Public Building and Works, Richard returned to Cambridge and in June 1969 passed both parts of a diploma in architecture.[21] Richard went on to work as an architect.[21]

Prince Charles was educated at Gordonstoun, a Scottish public school, becoming the first heir to the throne to sit for public examinations when he took his GCE O-levels at age sixteen, passing six.[22][23] Prince Charles entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1967, where he read history, archaeology and anthropology and graduated with a 2:2 degree in 1970.[23][22] This was the first time in history that a British monarch or heir to the throne had completed a university degree.[22]

Prince William of Wales, Charles' eldest son and next in line to the throne, entered Eton College in 1995, becoming the first senior member of the royal family to attend Eton.[24] William graduated with A-levels in geography, biology and history of art as well as 12 GCSEs.[25] Following a gap year, William went on to graduate from St Andrews University in Fife, Scotland with a 2:1 degree in geography in 2005.[25][26]

William's younger brother Prince Harry also graduated from Eton; Harry does not have a university degree but completed ten months of officer commissioning training at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[27] .[28] In 2005, Harry entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst,[29] which is considered by Britons to be the equivalent of the United States Military Academy (West Point), though is 10 months, instead of four years long, and is not a degree-granting institution.[28]

Prince Andrew, Duke of York has no formal post-secondary education but his daughters, Eugenie and Beatrice, were noted in 2008 as having earned the best grades so far in the Royal Family in their A-levels, better than their father and uncle, and than their older cousins Harry and William.[16] Eugenie ranked first with her two As and a B in art, English literature, and history of art from Marlborough College.[16] Beatrice went on to graduate in 2011 from Goldsmiths, University of London with a 2:1 degree in history and the history of ideas;[30] Eugenie went on to graduate in 2012 from Newcastle University with a 2:1 degree in English and history of art.[31]

Educational credentials

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The following list summarizes the educational credentials of the queen and the first four adult members in the current line of succession to the British throne.

Name Secondary school Undergraduate university Notes

Queen Elizabeth 		none (educated by governess Marion Crawford and private tutors)[32] none

Charles, Prince of Wales 		Gordonstoun[22]
A-level grades:
B (history), C (French)[16] 		Bachelor of Arts – History
University of Cambridge[22]
Grade: 2:2

William, Duke of Cambridge 		Eton College[33]
A-level grades:
A (geography), B (art history), C (biology)[16] 		Master of Arts (Scotland) – Geography
University of St Andrews[33]
Grade: 2:1 		Also completed a 10-week certificate in agriculture at the University of Cambridge.[33]

Henry of Wales 		Eton College[34]
A-level grades:
B (art), D (geography) [16] 		none Also completed commissioning course at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[34]

Andrew, Duke of York 		Gordonstoun[35] none Also completed commissioning course at Britannia Royal Naval College.[36]

Observers' views

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Andrew, Duke of York

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Andrew, Duke of York's election to the Royal Society prompted "Britain's leading scientists" to "revolt" due to Andrew's lack of scientific background, with some noting he had only a high-school level education.[37] In an op-ed in The Sunday Times, Humboldt Prize recipient David Colquhoun opined, in references to Andrew's qualifications, that "if I wanted a tip for the winner of the 14.30 at Newmarket, I’d ask a royal. For most other questions, I wouldn’t."[37][38]

Edward VII

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Edward VII was described by one of his tutors as having a "lack of power to grasp almost anything put before him".

King Edward VII, Queen Elizabeth's great-grandfather, briefly attended the University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge, but did not graduate from any of them.[39] Dennis Judd, professor of British history at London Metropolitan University has opined that "there is no evidence" Edward's brief time at these universities "did much good" and William Ewart Gladstone said of the king that he "knew everything except what is in books".[39] John Neale Dalton, one of Edward's tutors, surmised of the future king that he had a "weakness of brain, this feebleness and lack of power to grasp almost anything put before him", while another tutor, J.K. Stephen, determined there was no use for Edward to attend university at all since he was unable to understand the words he was reading.[40] As a "tribute to his birth, rather than his intellect" he was granted an honorary LL.D.[40]

Elizabeth II

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Historian David Starkey described Elizabeth II in 2007 in his series Monarchy as poorly learned, comparing her cultural refinement and intellectual curiosity to that of a "housewife".[41][42] According to The Telegraph, his comments prompted rebuttals from several sources: Penny Junor, royal biographer, said: "The Queen is certainly cultured even if not that moved by the arts. The Prince of Wales has a great sense of history and a lot of that comes from his mother."[42] Marco Houston, editor of Royalty Monthly Magazine, said that Elizabeth "may not have had the best formal education, but she has had the best education at the university of life".[43]

Diana, Princess of Wales

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Diana, Princess of Wales, twice failed her O-level exams before finally dropping out of school.

Monica Ali and Princess Michael of Kent have both described the late Diana, Princess of Wales as "uneducated." According to tapes released in 2004, Diana had said that her immediate family members frequently referred to her as "the thick one".[44][45][46] Diana repeatedly failed her O-level examinations (equivalent of a high school diploma in the United States[47]) and later dropped out of school.[48] Journalist John Lanchester said that, while failure on Diana's scale would normally mean one was "astoundingly stupid", Diana had intentionally avoided academic pursuits as part of a master plan not to "put a royal suitor off".[49] (In an undated article published in the Times of India, the paper reported the discovery of Diana's O-level exam notes from 1977. In them at age 16, she wrote about the "genious" [sic] of William Shakespeare and a philosopher she identified as "Aristocktile", but possibly meant Aristotle).[50]

William, Duke of Cambridge

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The decision in 2014 by the University of Cambridge to admit William, Duke of Cambridge to a vocational course in agriculture management was criticized by some, who said his entry was a "free pass" and "insult" to other Cambridge students, who are required to have high grades. But, others noted that the vocationally-oriented course was open to anyone from the "posh set" and not just royalty.[51][52] Cambridge's student newspaper The Tab initially criticized William's admission, questioning whether his grades were sufficient to attend the university. Later its writer backtracked, noting that the course was a short vocational certification and that the university customarily admitted most applicants to it.[53][54]

Henry, Prince of Wales

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One of Harry's former teachers at Eton, Sarah Forsyth, said in 2005 that Harry was a "weak student" and alleged that fellow staff had conspired to help Harry cheat on examinations; the assessment of Harry's academic prowess came as part of a wrongful dismissal suit Forsyth filed alleging she had been fired for refusing to participate in the alleged cheating scheme.[55][56] Both Eton and Harry denied the claims.[55][56] While a tribunal made no ruling on the cheating claim, it "accepted the prince had received help in preparing his A-level 'expressive' project, which he needed to pass to secure his place at Sandhurst".[56]Eton paid £45,000 damages to Forsyth over her dismissal.[57]

In response to a 2016 rumor that Harry might apply to Yale Law School, the Daily Beast said his friends said that the idea of Harry returning to academia was "truly testing the bounds of possibility" and that "academic prowess has never been something the Prince has claimed or pretended to".[55]

Notes

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  1. ^ Pollnitz, p. 10.
  2. ^ Alison Weir, Henry VIII: The King and His Court (Ballantine Books, 2008), p. 466.
  3. ^ Weir, p. 466.
  4. ^ Weir, p. 466.
  5. ^ Pollnitz, p. 10.
  6. ^ Pollnitz, p. 10.
  7. ^ Pollnitz, pp. 199-202.
  8. ^ a b Clarke, M.J. (February 1978). "The Education of Royalty in the Eighteenth Century: George IV and William IV". British Journal of Educational Studies. 26 (1): 73.
  9. ^ Gordon & Lawton, pp. 12–13.
  10. ^ Gordon & Lawton, p. 15.
  11. ^ Gordon & Lawton, p. 174.
  12. ^ a b c Andrzej Olechnowicz, The Monarchy and the British Nation, 1780 to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 19-20.
  13. ^ Albany, Dukes of: IV. Leopold George Duncan Albert, Encyclopedia Britannica (1911).
  14. ^ Charlotte Zeepvat, Prince Leopold: The Untold Story of Queen Victoria's Youngest Son, London: Sutton, 1998, p. 118
  15. ^ Bradford, Sarah (1989). King George VI. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-79667-4.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Guest, Katie (23 August 2008). "Top marks for Eugenie as her exam results break all royal records". The Independent. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  17. ^ Clarke, M.J. (February 1978). "The Education of Royalty in the Eighteenth Century: George IV and William IV". British Journal of Educational Studies. 26 (1): 85–87.
  18. ^ Kenneth J. Panton, Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy (Scarecrow Press: 2011), p. 181.
  19. ^ Andrew Roberts, The House of Windsor (ed. Antonia Fraser: University of California Press, 2000), p. 74.
  20. ^ Edemariam, Aida (22 December 2007). "Queen is poorly educated and philistine, says Starkey". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  21. ^ a b HRH Prince Richard The Duke of Gloucester, University of Worcester (2008).
  22. ^ a b c d e "Education". princeofwales.gov.uk. The Prince of Wales. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  23. ^ a b Profile: Prince Charles, BBC History.
  24. ^ Proud Parents: Charles, Diana Said Delighted by Son's Eton Acceptance, Reuters (June 15, 1995).
  25. ^ a b Profile: Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge], BBC News (September 12, 2013).
  26. ^ William graduates from St Andrews, BBC News (June 23, 2005).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference LG 15 April 2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ a b Cowell, Alan (7 September 2003). "Britain's Upper Crust Still Soldiers On". New York Times.
  29. ^ "Harry begins Sandhurst training". London: BBC. 8 May 2005. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  30. ^ Princess Beatrice graduates from Goldsmiths College, BBC News (September 9, 2011).
  31. ^ Craig Thompson, Newcastle University welcomes back former student, HRH Princess Eugenie, Evening Chronicle (October 16, 2015).
  32. ^ Kenneth J. Panton, Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy (Scarecrow Press: 2011), p. 181.
  33. ^ a b c "Prince William". biography.com. Biography. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  34. ^ a b "Prince Harry". biography.com. Biography. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  35. ^ "Gordonstoun turns back clock to a golden age of cold showers (but would Prince Charles agree?) 22:52Monday 27 April 200901:27Tuesday 28 April 2009". The Scotsman. 27 April 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  36. ^ "Naval Career". thedukeofyork.org. The Duke of York. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  37. ^ a b Leake, Jonathan (5 May 2013). "Royal Society bust-up over Andrew". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  38. ^ Colquohon, David (5 May 2013). "Dukes of York don't belong in our Royal Society". Sunday Times. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  39. ^ a b Judd, Dennis (2012). George VI. I.B.Tauris. pp. 46–47. ISBN 178076071X.
  40. ^ a b Hibbert, Christopher (2007). Edward VII: The Last Victorian King. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230610750.
  41. ^ Edemariam, Aida (22 December 2007). "Queen is poorly educated and philistine, says Starkey". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  42. ^ a b Sawer, Patrick (23 December 2007). "Historian David Starkey criticises the Queen". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  43. ^ Boztas, Senay (22 December 2007). "Starkey Dubs YouTube Queen an Uneducated Housewife". The Independent. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  44. ^ "Diana tapes: Princess thought she was 'thick.'". Hurriyet Daily News. Associated Press. 2 December 2004. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  45. ^ Ali, Monica (30 March 2011). "Royal rebel: the legacy of Diana". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  46. ^ Joshi, Priay (26 January 2014). "Princess Michael of Kent: Princess Diana was 'Uneducated' and Older Royals 'Boring'". Yahoo. International Business Times. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  47. ^ "Equivalent Degrees". indiana.edu. Indiana University. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  48. ^ "Famous high school dropouts". WLWT-TV. 18 September 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  49. ^ Lanchester, John (25 June 2007). "The Naked and the Dead". New Yorker. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  50. ^ "Princess Diana's O-level notes dumped in rubbish". Times of India. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  51. ^ Puente, Maria (3 January 2014). "Are Prince William's grades good enough for Cambridge?". USA Today. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  52. ^ "Why Prince William is right to go back to school". CNN. 8 January 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  53. ^ "Cambridge student newspaper backtracks on Prince William criticism". ITV. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  54. ^ Tatko-Peterson, Ann. "Prince William not smart enough for Cambridge University?". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  55. ^ a b c Sykes, Tom (15 March 2016). "Harry At Yale Studying Law? Not Likely, Your Honor". Daily Beast. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  56. ^ a b c Morris, Steven (10 May 2005). "Prince Harry, a weak student who was helped to cheat in exam, says ex-teacher". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  57. ^ Maley, Jacqueline (14 February 2006). "£45,000 damages for teacher who accused Prince Harry of cheating". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2016.

References

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  • Aysha Pollnitz, Princely Education in Early Modern Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
  • Gordon, Peter; Lawton, Denis (2003), Royal Education: Past, Present, and Future, Psychology Press, ISBN 9780714683867, ISSN 1462-2076
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