King Charles Becomes Patron of His Former Scottish School Depicted in The Crown as ‘Absolute Hell’

To mark the first anniversary of his coronation, King Charles has accepted a patronage at Gordonstoun, the Scottish institution where he attended secondary school — and which he reportedly referred to as an “absolute hell.”

The King, 75, who attended Gordonstoun from 1962 to 1967, has become patron of the Gordonstoun Association, marking his first official link with the school, the BBC reports. The role was previously held by the monarch’s late father, Prince Philip, who was also an alumnus of the institution.

In addition to the late Duke of Edinburgh, Charles joins another relative, Princess Anne, as an official supporter of the institution, the BBC reports. Anne holds the role of warden at the boarding school.

Gordonstoun’s website states that the school is “immensely proud to be the first senior school to educate a King, and prouder still to note how the years King Charles spent here nurtured his love of, and commitment to, service, to the outdoors and to the arts.”

But the King’s time at the school is widely thought to have been unhappy, at least at the start — a period that was portrayed in the second season of The Crown.