Prince William Was Just 13 When He Broke This Longstanding Royal Tradition
At 13, Prince William broke a longstanding royal tradition of senior royals. The Prince of Wales changed the trajectory of the royal family when it came to education and the monarchy’s future, all by stepping foot into one building.
For years, senior royals attended one specific school, but Prince William broke that mold
Prince William followed in the footsteps of his mother’s family when it came to his higher education. Princess Diana’s father, John, the 8th Earl Spencer, and her brother, Charles, were educated at Eton College.
However, senior royals historically attended Gordonstoun in Scotland. William’s father, King Charles, Prince Philip, and Prince Andrew were all students at the school.
But Charles, not Diana, wanted his sons to attend Eton and not his alma mater. Charles reportedly hated Gordonstoun, where he was said to have been mercilessly bullied. He also called being at the school like serving a “prison sentence.”
Therefore, after two generations of royal family men attended the Scottish boarding school, Charles and Diana decided to send William to Eton, which he began attending at age 13.
Following William to Eton was Prince Harry, his younger brother
Several years after Prince William began his Eton education, his younger brother Prince Harry followed suit. However, Princess Diana did not want her younger son to attend the same school as his big brother. Royal butler Paul Burrell explained why.
Per Slingo, Burrell revealed that Diana felt Prince Harry would be compared to his older brother and, as a result, would develop resentment toward Prince William. “Diana didn’t want Harry to follow in the wake of William because she knew he wasn’t as academic as William,” he said.
“She knew he wasn’t as sharp as William and wasn’t as intellectual as William. Diana thought that Harry would be compared to his brother at school, and she didn’t want him to suffer that,” Burrell said.
Prince Harry said Prince Wiliam rejected him at Eton in ‘Spare’
Following Prince William, Prince Harry also attended the same secondary school. However, while Wiliam excelled at school, Harry had difficulties fitting in.
Harry told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes that his brother rejected him when he arrived. Cooper asked Harry if it were true that William told him to pretend they didn’t know each other.
Harry replied: “Yeah, and at the time it hurt. I couldn’t make sense of it. I was like, ‘What do you mean? We’re now at the same school. Like, I haven’t seen you for ages. Now we get to hang out together.’
“He’s like, ‘No, no, no, when we’re at school, we don’t know each other.’ And I took that personally,” Harry concluded of his time at Eton.
Prince Harry and Prince William are currently estranged after Harry spoke disparagingly of his older brother in Spare. They were together last at King Charles’ coronation but did not sit near each other.
