Princess Anne paid a sweet tribute to her late mother, Queen Elizabeth, during a visit to the school her children, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips, her brothers, King Charles and Princes Andrew and Edward and her father, the late Prince Phillip attended but she couldn’t.
The Princess Royal on Thursday visited Gordonstoun School in Moray to officially open what is said to be one of the greenest classroom buildings in the UK.
The hub has environmentally friendly credentials including solar panels, ground source heating and hi-tech C02 monitoring.
During her visit, Anne revealed a plaque naming the new hub ‘The Queen Elizabeth II Rooms’ in honour of the late monarch, after the approval of King Charles.
The royal, who holds the role of Warden at Gordonstoun, met students and was given a guided tour of the building.
After the opening, the Princess Royal said she was “deeply honoured” to open the new facility which “captured the spirit and tradition” of the school.
She added that she hoped her late mother’s service to the community would “inspire” students and that her legacy could be carried throughout the school using the new facilities.
Three generations of royals have attended the prestigious school in Scotland, however, Princess Anne wasn’t allowed to.
The school was first attended by Prince Philip followed by King Charles in 1962.
The monarch stayed there for five years and resided in the Windmill Lodge, which is now a boarding house for female pupils, however, he reportedly did not enjoy the regime, which he later characterised as “Colditz in kilts”.
He later praised the school, stating it had taught him “a great deal about myself and my own abilities and disabilities”.
His brothers, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward later attended Gordonstoun themselves, however as at the time it was a boys’ school, Princess Anne could not attend with her brothers and was sent to Benenden School in Kent instead.
But unlike Charles, who sent Prince William and Prince Harry to Eton College, Princess Anne decided to follow Prince Phillip’s footsteps and sent both her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall to the Scottish school.
Zara and Peter have both spoken about the positive experiences they shared there.
Gordonstoun principal Lisa Kerr said: “HRH The Princess Royal spent time seeing how AI (artificial intelligence) is used in the classroom and our robotics club gave an impressive demonstration, which hopefully bodes well when they compete in the national championships later in the year.”
The Queen Elizabeth II Rooms – built by construction firm Taylor and Fraser – are clad with Siberian Larch timber, have the latest technology, including control systems for removing and adding walls to change the size of the existing rooms, and interactive teaching walls.
The building is the first phase of the school’s master plan to create a new classroom village to upgrade its facilities for students and the local community while reducing energy and the school’s carbon footprint.
