"It seemed as if the foundation of all that we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably," he later said. In 1979, his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten, who he described as "the grandfather I never had", was killed in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing, a loss that deeply affected him. He was a keen polo player and also rode as a jockey in a number of competitive races. Like many royals before him, he joined the armed forces, initially with the Royal Air Force in 1971 and later with the Navy, rising through the ranks to command the minesweeper HMS Bronington, before ending active service in 1976.Īs a young prince, he cut a dashing, sporty figure who loved skiing, surfing, and scuba diving. The following year he became the first British heir to receive a degree. "Colditz with kilts."īreaking with tradition again, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, to study archaeology and physical and social anthropology but later changed to history.ĭuring his studies, he was formally crowned Prince of Wales, the title traditionally held by the heir to the throne, at a grand ceremony in 1969, having spent nine weeks at a Welsh university where he said he faced almost daily protests from nationalists.
He described his time there as hell: he was lonely and bullied. He was then sent to Gordonstoun, a tough boarding school in Scotland where Prince Philip had also studied. Unlike predecessors educated by private tutors, he went to Hill House school in West London before becoming a boarder at Cheam School in Berkshire, which was attended by his father Prince Philip and where he was later head boy.
0 kommentar(er)
