Jump to content

User:LavaBaron/EducationRoyal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The education of the British Royal Family is the method and extent of formal education received by members of the British Royal Family.

The royal family of the United Kingdom is not known for its intellectual achievements and the British constitutional scholar David Starkey has described the reigning queen, Elizabeth II, as poorly educated, comparing her cultural refinement and intellectual curiosity to that of a "housewife". [1][2] The Queen's father, George VI, finished at the bottom of his class at the Royal Naval College Osbourne, going on to study for one year at the University of Cambridge, though ultimately withdrawing.[3] In fact, it would be almost 900 years after the first university was established in Britain before a British monarch or heir to the throne managed to successfully complete a university degree (when Prince Charles graduated from Cambridge in 1970).[4]

The former Princess of Wales, Diana, once described herself as "thick as a plank", an evaluation echoed by Princess Michael of Kent who observed the late princess was not well educated, having failed her O-level examinations twice.[5] Meanwhile, George of Denmark, the husband of Queen Anne has been generally regarded as unintelligent, lacking any interests other than binge drinking and model ship building.[6] William Gladstone famously described Edward VIII as knowing "everything except what is in books" while Queen Victoria noted that her son was "dull and ignorant".[6]

Members of the royal family who have successfully matriculated to university have sometimes been accused of leveraging their position and wealth to obtain admission to institutions that would not normally admit someone with their low exam scores. Some people have criticized the decision to admit Prince Charles to Cambridge in consideration of his low A-level exam scores. Charles' son, William, meanwhile was derided by fellow students at Cambridge when he went to take a graduate certificate in agriculture with some describing the admission of someone with his test scores as an "insult".[7]

Prince Philip, who only has a high school level education, spent 35 years as chancellor of the University of Cambridge, the titular but largely ceremonial head of the university.

The following list summarizes the educational credentials of principal adult members in the current line of succession to the British throne.

Name Secondary school Undergraduate university Postgraduate university Notes

Queen Elizabeth
none (private tutors)[8] none none

Charles, Prince of Wales
Gordonstoun[4] Bachelor of Arts - History
University of Cambridge[4]
none

William, Duke of Cambridge
Eton College[9] Master of Arts (Scotland) - Geography
University of St Andrews[9]
none Also completed a 10-week certificate in agriculture at the University of Cambridge.[9]

Henry of Wales
Eton College[10] none none Also completed commissioning course at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[10]

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

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Edemariam, Aida (22 December 2007). "Queen is poorly educated and philistine, says Starkey". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  2. ^ Guest, Katie (23 August 2008). "Top marks for Eugenie as her exam results break all royal records". The Independent. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  3. ^ Bradford, Sarah (1989). King George VI. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-79667-4.
  4. ^ a b c "The Prince of Wales - Education". royal.gov.uk. The Royal Family. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  5. ^ Dampler, Phil (26 June 2014). "Princess Michael of Kent says old Royals are 'boring' and Princess Diana was 'uneducated'". Daily Express. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  6. ^ a b Richardson, Matt (2001). The Royal Book of Lists. Dundum. pp. 149–151. ISBN 0888822383.
  7. ^ Corchoran, Kierian (3 January 2014). "William's Mediocre A-Level ..." Daily Mail. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  8. ^ "Her Majesty the Queen - Education". royal.gov. The Royal Family. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  9. ^ a b c "Prince William". biography.com. Biography. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Prince Harry". biography.com. Biography. Retrieved 30 March 2016.