Prince Harry had an incredibly privileged school life as he began his studies at Mrs Mynors Nursery School, before going on to Wetherby Prep School and later boarding at Ludgrove School and Eton College. The Duke of Sussex was just eight years old when he was sent to live away from home, so he received a great deal of support from school staff - and was even treated to a unique ritual.
In addition to enjoying various activities and weekly treats, the younger boys at Harry’s boarding school had their hair personally washed by matrons, a special memory that he recalled in his controversial memoir, Spare.
“Three times a week after dinner, the matrons would assist the youngest boys with a nightly wash,” he wrote. “I can still see the long row of white baths, each with a boy reclining like a little Pharaoh, awaiting his personalised hair wash."
Harry continued: "For older boys who’d reached puberty, there were two tubs in a separate room, behind a yellow door. The matrons came down the row of tubs with stiff brushes, bars of floral soap. Every boy had his own towel, embossed with his school number. Mine was 116.”
After Ludgrove, Prince Harry went on to join Prince William and study at Eton College. While his memoir gave many interesting insights into his life growing up, one reference to his time at Eton saw Harry recall his disappointment at William not wanting to spend time with him there.
Speaking to TV host Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes, the Duke of Sussex says he took William's apparent rejection of him "personally". Cooper prompted: "Your brother told you, 'Pretend we don’t know each other'."
To which 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."
Touching on why he felt out of place compared to other boys at the iconic school, Harry wrote in Spare: "Sport, I decided, would be my thing at Eton." Referring to how he went against the grain and opted not to follow the rules to the letter, he continued: "Sporty boys were separated into two groups: dry bobs and wet bobs.
"Dry bobs played cricket, football, rugby, or polo. Wet bobs rowed, sailed, or swam. I was a dry who occasionally got wet. I played every dry sport, though rugby captured my heart. Beautiful game, plus a good excuse to run into stuff very hard. Rugby let me indulge my rage. I simply didn't feel pain the way other boys did, which made me scary on a pitch."
