‘Irritable’ Prince Philip’s true personality revealed in unearthed school report

A school report from Prince Philip’s school days has offered a look at his mischievous personality as a young boy.

Records from the late Duke of Edinburgh’s time at Gordonstoun School in Northern Scotland have recently been retrieved and are now on display in the National Archives at Kew, as reported by The Telegraph.

The documents, which reveal surprising details about Prince Philip’s teenage years, were only expected to be open to the public in 2041 but have been released much earlier.

During his final year at the institution in 1938, Philip was willing to get stuck into “dirty and arduous work”. Still, he had a temper so fervent that the school’s founder and headteacher, Dr Kurt Hahn, said it needed to be monitored in the hopes it would not become a long-term problem. 

Phillip was also a ‘born leader’

Writing about the late Queen’s husband, Mr Hahn called Phillip a “born leader”, but who would need “the exacting demands of a great service to do justice to himself.” While Phillip’s “best” work was described as “outstanding”, his second best “is not good enough”.

Nevertheless, the head, who opened the school in 1934 and was considered “experimental” for his teaching methods, made Phillip school captain at the time because he was “universally liked and respected”. 

He was also made captain of the hockey and cricket team, likely for the same reason. However, his one major shortcoming, as detailed by Hahn, was his temper. “The lure of the moment remains his danger,” he wrote. “He is at times, too irritable,” he added.

Meanwhile, the school head credited him for having a great “sense of service” for the other pupils, as well as his “unusual courage and endurance”.

His reputation as sports captain

He was also praised for his aptitude for holding a room, a quality he implemented into his role as sports captain. “He has a power of meticulous application, but will only do his best under pressure,” the report read.

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Overall, Philip received an A grade for intelligence and B+ for accuracy, reliability and skill transferability. His teacher also noted a knack for German speaking, adding that Phillip had a unique interest in Greek military history. The report also shows Phillip was a member of Gordonstoun’s Seamanship Guild and went on expeditions to Norway and Scotland.

There, he “proved himself to be a cheerful shipmate and very conscientious in carrying out both major and minor duties. He is thoroughly trustworthy and not afraid of dirty and arduous work.”

Phillip was 26 years old when he married Queen Elizabeth in 1947, a few years before her Coronation in 1953. Gordonstoun is a private institution located in Moray, Scotland, and is known for its strict methods of schooling. King Charles also attended the school when he was a boy.