Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth were both great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria, making them third cousins. They were also second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark. This is either a fascinating footnote or entirely irrelevant to you, depending on whether you're here for the genealogy or the schools. We're here for the schools.
The reason this matters to London parents in 2025 is more pointed than nostalgia. The institutions that shaped the royal family — Gordonstoun in Moray, Eton in Windsor, St George's School Windsor, Benenden in Kent — are still actively marketed on the back of that association. Parents pay fees north of £50,000 per year for boarding places partly on the strength of a brand built across generations. That's worth interrogating.
Gordonstoun is still trading on Prince Philip's legacy — but should you buy it?
Philip attended Gordonstoun from 1934, and Charles followed him there decades later, famously hating it. The school has spent considerable effort since repositioning itself as progressive rather than punishing, but the Duke of Edinburgh's Award — which Philip founded in 1956 — remains woven into its identity and into the broader fabric of British independent school culture.
Today, Gordonstoun's boarding fees run to approximately £40,000 per year, which is steep for a school that isn't in the London commuter belt and requires a genuine commitment to its outdoor, character-based philosophy. If your child thrives on structure, expedition, and distance from parental oversight, it's a serious option. If you're considering it because Philip went there, that's not a sound basis for a £160,000 four-year decision.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award now has over 170 countries participating and is held by more than 1 million young people annually, according to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. But participation rates at a given school tell you almost nothing about whether the award is substantively embedded or just a box-ticked activity.
The DofE Award is now offered at hundreds of independent and maintained schools across England. Its presence on a prospectus is not a differentiator. What matters is whether a school integrates it meaningfully into the curriculum, or treats it as an add-on for parents who want something for the UCAS personal statement.
Eton is not the school it was when Charles was there — it's more selective and more expensive
Charles attended Eton from 1967. His sons William and Harry followed. The school's association with the royal family is as close as any institution in Britain, and its admissions process reflects a confidence that demand will never slacken.
Eton's current fees are £52,749 per year, according to the school's published fee schedule, which puts a five-year education at over a quarter of a million pounds before extras. Registration at birth is widely recommended; the waiting list is real, and places for boys at 13+ are highly competitive.
What Eton offers that the royal connection obscures is a genuinely exceptional academic programme. A-level results consistently place it among the top performing schools in England, and its specialist societies, libraries, and teaching staff are hard to match. The prestige is real, but it's earned through outcomes, not just heritage.
Parents who register their sons at Eton because it's where William went are making the same category error as those choosing Gordonstoun for Philip. The schools are excellent. The royal association is a marketing story. Don't pay £52,000 a year for the story.
St George's Windsor and Benenden: the schools that shaped the women in the royal family
The Queen attended private lessons rather than a conventional school, and Princess Anne was among the first royals to attend a conventional boarding school, going to Benenden in Kent. Benenden's current fees are around £43,380 per year for full boarding.
St George's School Windsor Castle, attended by several royal children at prep level, is a genuine option for families in the Windsor and west London area. Its association with the Chapel Royal and proximity to Windsor Castle make it unlike any other prep school in England, and its results at Common Entrance are strong.
Benenden is worth taking seriously as a girls' boarding school in its own right. It consistently performs well at A-level, has a broad co-curricular programme, and sits in a genuinely beautiful part of Kent. The royal connection is a talking point. The education is the substance.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award at London day schools: what to actually look for
For London parents who aren't considering full boarding, the most relevant legacy of Prince Philip and the schools associated with the royal family is the DofE framework. Philip launched the award in 1956 specifically to give young people structured challenge outside the academic curriculum, and most good London independent day schools now offer it at Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels.
The question worth asking at open days is not whether a school offers DofE — almost all of them do — but how many pupils actually complete Gold Award, and whether the school provides the expedition support in-house or outsources it. Schools that run their own expedition teams and have dedicated DofE coordinators take it seriously. Schools that point you to a third-party provider and leave organisation to parents are ticking a box.
Sixth-form applications to competitive universities still respond well to Gold DofE completion, particularly where a student can articulate what the challenge section involved. Admissions tutors are not naive; they know when an award has been genuinely demanding.
The broader question: does royal association still shift the needle in admissions?
Honestly, less than it did. London parents in 2025 are more likely to be looking at A-level subject breadth, university destination data, and pastoral care structures than asking whether a given school has a royal alumnus. Tatler's school guide still makes much of these associations, but the parents we speak to are sceptical.
What does persist is the social network effect. Schools like Eton, Harrow, and Winchester create alumni communities of genuine professional density. Whether that justifies the fees is a values question as much as a financial one, and it's one only you can answer.
The schools that built their reputations on royal patronage now mostly stand or fall on their own results. Gordonstoun without Philip's legacy would still be a distinctive, character-led boarding school. Eton without the princes would still be one of the best-resourced academic schools in England. Benenden without Anne would still be a strong girls' boarding option in the south-east.
Philip and Elizabeth married in 1947 and remained married for 73 years until his death in April 2021, according to The Royal Family's official website. That marriage, and the royal family's school choices across three generations, created a set of associations that the marketing departments of a dozen British independent schools have been carefully tending ever since.
The next open day at one of these schools will not mention that the fees have risen sharply across the sector. At Eton, fees increased by more than 18% between 2021 and 2024. That's the number to keep in mind when the brochure leads with a photograph of the chapel.