As the coronation draws near, King Charles can reflect on a lifetime of experiences that helped him prepare for his duty as monarch, including his two terms at Timbertop in the mountains of southeast Australia, which he has called “by far the best part” of his schooling.
The future king received the most of his education in British boarding schools, but in 1966 he was sent to a campus in rural Victoria that provided a radically different kind of education, far from the more austere Gordonstoun in Scotland.
The prince went to Timbertop to escape the constant media attention while taking a break from his royal responsibilities.
During a return trip to Australia, Charles remarked, “While I was here, I had the Pommy bits bashed off me.” He looked back fondly on his brief time here, saying “it was good for the character,” despite calling the 70-mile climbs “in a blood-stained shirt” “hell.”
The remoteness of this Geelong Grammar School site in the country helped keep off nosy eyes, though the international press was allowed to visit for a day right after Charles arrived.
A former student of Timbertop named Stuart McGregor, who was picked by the school to be the royal’s friend, can also be seen working alongside the prince when they chop logs in old footage.
Mr. McGregor visits on occasion, and while we stroll around the grounds together, he attempts to recall all the many buildings and lodges, many of which have now been replaced by newer, more aesthetically pleasing structures.
He explains to me, “That’s where I shared quarters with our King.”
He claims that the lodging was modest and small, certainly not what the young prince was used to.
And Mr. McGregor admits that the future monarch’s “suddenly being thrust into a very small suite with someone he didn’t know” must have been “pretty daunting.”
He chuckles, “There wasn’t any snoring that I can recall. Maybe I was at fault.
Mr. McGregor recalls just what a contrast his friend went through.
He writes of the future King, “He was suddenly transported to a very different world.”
“It initially seemed almost bemused, in a way: ‘What’s going on? How come I’m here?
However, this “quickly resolved itself and he started to embrace the concept”
The prince spent his time in Timbertop getting ready for college. He assumed a supervisory role as an older student yet continued to engage in the challenging activities.
Today, Timbertop, a scenic three-hour trip north of Melbourne, has both boys and girls enrolled on its campus.
Twelve students are using axes to attack logs in the grounds. Others wheelbarrow their loot away in order to start the fire that will prevent the wash from becoming icy the next morning.
Tom Ward, 14, tells me that you have to cut wood in order to take hot showers.
He continues, grinning, “And if you don’t have enough, then you take cold showers, which is very terrible.
More traces of tradition can be seen 100 meters distant in a blacksmith’s workshop.
Working with molten iron directly is not a regular educational activity. But in this case, everyone tries their hand at it; some are more adept at maintaining a steady hand while striking the hot metal.
According to Mr. McGregor, he has maintained contact with the King over the years; this connection is one that he appreciates and guards closely.
“We were living in a different time,” Mr. McGregor claims. “Having that informal relationship was easier.”
“That alters the dynamics, as my King. I realize that,” he replies.
Geelong Grammar, whose former students include media magnate Rupert Murdoch, was somewhat taken aback by the choice to offer Charles a few months in Victoria’s High Country.
“I’m not sure why the royal parents chose Timbertop,” says Jeremy Madin, who attended the college in the early 1960s and returned in 1983 as headmaster.
“They undoubtedly wanted him to be in a real-world setting where he could learn how to live with others, away from the flurry of royal activities, and that’s what happened. “One of my brothers was there at the time and thought he was a good guy,” said security, who remained in the background. That’s all there is to it – he blended in with everyone else.
Other boys, according to Mr. Madin, were “very interested” in the young prince rather than being intimidated.
He was dubbed a “Pommy b*****d” by one of them. He then laughed.
“The media were kept in check… and I think that allowed him to develop in a way that wouldn’t have been possible in other circumstances, and certainly not back in the English environment,” says the author.
Knowing that the king previously stood where the kids do today is a little strange.
According to 14-year-old Abbie Lord, “It’s a little crazy to feel like he has had that experience similar to mine, to have that connection.”
According to Tom Ward, “doing pretty much the same as he did here” was an honor.
We’ve probably traveled to the same mountains and seen the same vistas, he continues. It’s very amazing.
But while Australia has changed in some respects since 1966, the mountains and landscapes have not.
In 1999, aspirations for Australia to become a republic were denied. However, many contend that the Queen’s passing last year brought the republican discussion back into focus.
“I stated that we wouldn’t vote on this again until after the Queen’s reign. After Queen Elizabeth passed away in September, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told me,
“Well, the Queen’s reign has ended.
For Australia’s First Nations people, the dispute over the British monarchy also stirs up a lot of painful emotions. Many Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people are experiencing fresh trauma as a result of the traumatic effects of colonization and the Crown’s complicity in the violence and displacement of indigenous Australians.
The Royal Family would experience considerable sensitivity if Charles were to become King again. He’ll have to persuade a sizeable portion of the populace that he still makes sense for Australia as the head of state.
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