The country has been gripped by Royal fever for the Coronation of King Charles III and here at St. Edward’s we have our own history of royal connections!
The 23rd June 1939 was a very special Gaudy indeed. Not only was it the last peace-time Gaudy before WWII, but the Princess Royal – Mary – was the first Royal visitor to the School. She came to open the Cowell Memorial Gates, named after the School’s longest serving teacher, which still stand proudly at the Main Entrance to the School. Here it is reported in the Chronicle:
The Princess Royal is pictured below with Harold Rogers, the architect of the gates:
The Princess Royal also presented prizes at prize-giving – the first woman ever to do so! – which just so happened to be the tenth anniversary of the event.
The Chronicle reports that she also asked for three more days to be added to that year’s summer holidays!
Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was our next royal visitor and in fact visited the school twice. In November 1963, he came by helicopter to lay the foundation stone of the New Buildings on Corfe Field.
He was welcomed by Gp. Capt. Douglas Bader (OSE), Sir George Mallaby and Warden Fisher (pictured from left to right below):
The Chronicle reports the day as below:
1963 was a big year for the School, being its centenary year. Even the Queen sent her congratulations as reported in the Chronicle below:
Prince Philip returned to Oxford nearly a decade later, on 1st December 1972, to promote the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. It was planned for him to visit St Edward’s, but due to a tight schedule over 100 boys were transported to the nearby Cheney School instead. There, Teddies boys demonstrated their skills in First Aid, fencing and a wind ensemble, as well as motor-cycle maintenance (the Duke refused the offer of a ride from Anthony Hudson!) and brass-rubbing.
Very interesting to learn about all the royal connections Teddies has!