Upon joining his older brother Prince William at elite boarding school Eton College in 1998, the future heir established the golden rule: don’t know each other at school.
Will wanted Harry to carve out his own path and be seen as something more than a “package deal” with his brother – but that one, crucial command was shattered by a panicked self-inflicted haircut as recounted by Prince Harry in his best-selling 2023 memoir “Spare.”
The “Sacred Rule” at Eton College
As Harry began his first day at Eton aged 14, William was already comfortable navigating the school’s highly prestigious structure. In his memoir, he recalls how:
William’s Boundaries: The Prince explicitly told Harry to refrain from speaking to him or acknowledging him as family while they were at school.
Harry’s initial feelings: He felt shocked by the intensity of the “high-pressure academic system,” which he admitted, on many an occasion, he felt “in way, way over [his] head.”
While William had enjoyed his time boarding, Harry admitted that, on entering Eton, he felt like “school was a constant storm of anxiety.”
The Haircut that Broke the Rule
The agreement the brothers had made about how to act at school was solid for their entire duration there, until an all-night “banter session” among Harry and his friends got totally out of hand.
After concluding that Harry’s hair was an “all-around disaster,” they persuaded him to shave his entire head. The end result left Harry in pure panic mode.
“I was running in circles. I wanted to put back the clock. I wanted to scoop up the hair from the floor and glue it back on. I wished to wake from this nightmare.”
Panicked about his appearance, Harry sprinted upstairs to his brother’s room in violation of the sacred school rule.
William’s Unsupportive Reaction
In response to Harry’s desperate plea, Prince William simply laughed at the hair debacle, just as Harry’s friends had done.
“Harold, what have you done?” was his reaction, “You shouldn’t have done it, Harold!” “Which sounded exactly like Stewie from Family Guy,” Harry joked in Spare. Embarrassed and defeated, Harry turned and left his room.
Press Controversy: “Harry the Skinhead”
The incident, as most things related to the young royals, became national news, and the next day’s front-page story of the Daily Mirror declared: “Harry the Skinhead,” accompanied by a picture mocking the Prince’s appearance. The outrage from St James’s Palace was swift:
Privacy Concerns: Prince Charles, through his spokeswoman Sandy Henney, condemned the “flagrant invasion of privacy” in his sons’ school lives.
Press Standards: The palace complained to the Press Complaints Commission about persistent intrusions on the family.
The Next Generation at Eton
The story of William and Harry at Eton has re-emerged as the future King, Prince George, is expected to join his uncle and father by starting at Eton College.
While William looks back on boarding school fondly and Harry feels like it was a series of overwhelming shocks, the nation waits to see how the next heir navigates life at Britain’s most famous educational institution.
