Do YOU ​​know how the royals did in their exams? From King Charles to Princess Diana: how members of the Firm performed academically after Fergie’s O levels were discovered

They may be ready for a life of public engagement (or even a future as king), but even members of the royal family have to GCSE and A Level exams.

Sarah, Duchess of York, had her own O-level results exposed today when a note detailing the results of exams she sat in June 1976 was found in a dusty filing cabinet.

It appears to have been accidentally left behind at Hurst Lodge School in Ascot, where the Duchess was a weekly boarder in the early 1970s – and it shows she only passed two subjects: spoken English, with an A, and art, with an c.

But passing just two subjects has done little harm to Prince Andrew’s ex-wife, who has topped the bestseller lists with her children’s books and romance novels.

Fergie may not have been an academic prodigy in her youth, but how did other members of the Firm perform in their own school exams?

King Charles

Charles followed his father to Gordonstoun in Moray, Scotland, an experience he has since described as a ‘prison sentence’, calling the independent school ‘Colditz in kilts’.

The £15,300-a-term boarding school was founded in 1934 by Kurt Hahn, a German Jew who had escaped Hitler – and the late Duke of Edinburgh was one of its first pupils.

It is housed in a 17th century building, surrounded by prefabs that were once an RAF barracks. Charles arrived in Gordonstoun in 1962 as a 13-year-old.

It was clear from the start that he was not a fan of the school. In a letter home he wrote: ‘I hardly sleep at home because I snore and am constantly hit on the head. It’s absolute hell.’

Another letter sent two years later read: “The people in my dorm room are mean. They throw slippers or hit me with pillows all night long… Last night was hell, literally hell.

“I wish I could come home.”

Charles left Gordonstoun with five O-levels and two A-levels: a B in History and a C in French.

He went to Cambridge and graduated with a 2:2 in history. It is said that Charles’s bodyguard, who attended all his lectures, achieved a 2:1.

Queen Camille

Camilla enrolled at the age of 10 at Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington, an institution whose aim at the time was said to be ‘providing women for the Foreign Office and most of the nobility’.

In 1957, students learned life skills such as cooking, flower arranging and writing checks.

Camilla eventually completed one O-level before leaving Queen’s Gate School at the age of 16, although it is not known which subject this was.

She did not take A-levels, but attended Mon Fertile Finishing School in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, and the Institut Britannique in Paris.

In the latter, Camilla studied French and French literature for six months.

In her youth she had a number of jobs as a secretary and receptionist.

Princess Diana

Diana – who once described herself as ‘plank thick’ – did not take O-levels.

She was initially educated at Riddlesworth Hall preparatory school in Diss, Norfolk, before enrolling as a boarder at West Heath, near Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1974.

Although she did not gain any qualifications, it is said that during her time at West Heath she demonstrated a special talent for music as an accomplished pianist, as well as dancing and home economics.

She also received the school’s award for the girl who gave maximum help to the school and her peers.

Diana left West Heath in 1977 and attended finishing school at the Institut Alpin Videmanette in Switzerland, which she left after the Easter term of 1978.

Prince Andreas

Like his brother and father, Prince Andrew visited Gordonstoun in Scotland.

Despite being known at Gordonstoun as the ‘Sniggerer’ for his penchant for ‘inappropriate jokes’, Andrew achieved six O-levels and three A-levels in English, history and politics.

He was briefly an exchange student at Lakefield College School in Ontario, Canada, in 1977, where he spent a “life-changing” six months.

After leaving school with a respectable number of qualifications, Prince Andrew entered the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) in 1979 to train as a naval officer.

Andrew completed the course at BRNC in 1980.

Prince William

In a break with royal tradition, Prince William became the first senior royal to attend the single-sex Eton College at the age of 13 in 1995.

William stayed at the school’s boarding house during the week, but spent his weekends with his grandmother, the late Queen, at nearby Windsor Castle.

At Eton he achieved twelve GCSEs and three A-levels: an A in geography, a B in art history and a C in biology.

During his final year, Prince William was one of 21 elected members of a prestigious prefect society, with members known as ‘Pop’.

The young royal was also incredibly active, a trait he has maintained as a working royal. In addition to his role as leader of the swimming and soccer teams, he also reportedly dabbled in water polo.

After Eton, William attended St Andrews University in Scotland, graduating with a 2:1 in Geography.

Kate Middleton

The Princess of Wales flourished at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where she excelled academically and performed well in sports including hockey and tennis.

There’s no doubt that Kate made quite an impact on her school, later being praised in her yearbook as ‘Person Likely to Be Loved by Everyone’ when she left for her gap year.

Kate left Marlborough College with 11 GCSEs and three A-levels – with As in maths and art and a B in English.

She went to the University of St Andrews (where she met Prince William) and left with a 2:1 in art history.

Prince Harry

Less academically than his brother, Prince Harry also attended Eton College.

He managed eleven GCSEs and two A-levels: a B in art and a D in geography.

But what Harry really excelled at when he went to Eton was sport.

He said: ‘Sport, I decided, would be my thing at Eton,” adding: “Sporty boys were divided into two groups: dry bobs and wet bobs.

‘Dry bobs played cricket, football, rugby or polo. Wet bobs rowed, sailed or swam.’

Harry was one too member of the Combined Cadet Force at Eton.

Instead of going to college, he joined the military.