THIS WEEK’S WINNER
MANILA, Philippines - Sheena Ricarte is a 27-year-old English writing teacher and an International Education enthusiast. She loves visiting, journaling, and photographing prestigious universities especially in America and in England.
People presume that kings and queens over the ages have received first-class education, perhaps the best that money could buy. Through the Divine Right of Kings, or absolutism, monarchs are brainwashed to believe that they are different from other mortals and that normal laws of moral behavior do not necessarily apply to them.
Nevertheless, as centuries moved towards the modern age, Great Britain saw its departure from a strong royal authority to a constitutional monarch with reduced powers. The Act of Parliament restricted royal prerogatives and abolished absolutism.
Royal Education by Peter Gordon and Denis Lawton examines the reality of the education of the British sovereigns from the beginning of the Tudor period up to the 20th-century Windsor era.
I must say that Royal Education by Peter Gordon and Denis Lawton is my favorite book. It is a unique choice of reading for several intertwined reasons. First, I have always been an aficionado of British royalty. When I was in grade school, I was fascinated by the British royal of my generation — Prince William. My parents indulged me with hardcover books of the pin-up prince and one of Britain’s most eligible bachelors. Second, I have always had a penchant for international education and educational diplomacy. Currently, my graduate thesis deals with the same subject — international education and its connection with globalization. A western construct, international education is a relatively new field of knowledge dealing with the colorful cultural diversity affecting the world’s education systems (like study abroad programs).
Furthermore, I am deeply intrigued with the posh all-boys boarding schools in England and in America, which have been a subject of myriad of films. I appreciate the nature of how the upper classes receive education — top of the line, organized, and elitist. Finally, the book satisfies my fancy for the British culture. A massive anglophile, I am taken inside the magical world of the British sovereigns’ formative years, particularly their study time. Dealing with a special subject, Royal Education instills intellect, appreciation, and refinement. A very enthralling book that my parents bought in America, it is certainly a pleasure to peruse, especially for those interested in the education of the monarchy — a subject that is strangely neglected and paid little attention to by many standard historical texts. Apparently, Royal Education contains all my cups of tea: international education, British culture and sophistication, thus making it to the top of my reading list.
Published in 1999, what caught my fancy about this 292-page book is its title and its front cover: a jacket illustration of the Prince (Charles) and the Princess of Wales (Diana) with Prince Harry and housemaster Dr. Andrew Gailey merrily escorting Prince William on his first day of term at Eton College on Sept. 6, 1995. Written by British education experts (at the University of London, Peter Gordon is professor emeritus of education and former head of the department of history and humanities at the university’s Institute of Education, while Denis Lawton teaches education at the same university), 18 illustrations in black and white further make the book spellbinding: Aristocratic poses of Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister, Princess Margaret with their governess, having their first ride on the London Underground in 1939; 11-year-old Elizabeth I’s legible monotype corsiva handwriting, dated 1544; Charles I’s angelic children with the future Charles II resting his hand on the head of an enormous mastiff; and the private tutors of the future sovereigns, who were mostly clergymen, in their stern and somber countenance.
Covering five generations of British monarchy from Henry VII to Prince William: The Tudors, the Stuarts, the Hanovers, the Saxe-Coburg and Gothas, and the present-day Windsor family, the book traces the transitions in royal education — from homeschooling with tutors to private schools. The British sovereigns were demanded to become well-rounded students, through a balanced program of physical, intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic curriculum, touching on languages and the social sciences. The authors dynamically related these ideas not only to educational theories, but to the changing political, social, and religious contexts in Great Britain through the centuries.
The book discusses the British royalty’s strong tradition towards erudition. Henry VII, the first of the well-educated Tudor monarchs, passed it on to his children. A recipient of Renaissance education, Henry VIII excelled in languages, literature, music, and religious controversies of the Reformation. Elizabeth I achieved high standards in linguistics and history. James I, thoroughly educated in the Renaissance tradition, was modified by his Puritan tutors, and was prepared for the English and Scottish crown. Charles I, a distinguished collector and patron of the arts, was educated to become a man of great taste and aesthetic judgment.
George I’s education as a Hanoverian king represented a break from the English tradition. The German ethos was utilized for he never understood English politics, requiring English interpreters. In the 20th century, royal education became even less theory-based and more haphazard, depending on the ideas of the tutors and the governesses. Sovereigns also generally accepted their much more limited role as constitutional monarchs.
Among all the British sovereigns mentioned, it is Mary I or Mary Tudor that I could relate to the most. Besides the interesting fact that we share the same birthday — she was born on Feb. 20, 1516, making her a double Pisces woman, too, who is characterized by being intelligent, imaginative and poignant — I must say high aptitude in the academics is our common denominator. Mary I was a studious protégé. The daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, she was the only surviving child (apparently, at that time, children of royal lineage were ironically sickly and less likely to survive. Some monarchs have their siblings dying at an early age due to infant illnesses). Sheltered, Mary’s childhood was a solemn one. Her mother’s strong Roman Catholic connections were doubtlessly transmitted to her. Evidence of Mary I’s educational progress and accomplishments included: At the age of three, she translated the Prayer of St. Thomas of Aquinas from Latin to English, which can now be seen in the British Library; she secretly corresponded with her mother in Spanish; and she was knowledgeable in theology, philosophy, music, several foreign languages and mathematics.
A Venetian delegation reported, “This Princess has a pretty face, well-proportioned, and a very beautiful complexion. Just 15, she is well grounded in Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, and Italian. She sings excellently and plays several instruments.” All of these were manifested in Mary’s wide field of intellectual interests.
However, Mary I’s life was replete with emotional drama: she was separated from her mother, Catherine of Aragon, after her promiscuous father, Henry VIII, abandoned them for Anne Boleyn in 1531. Mary was only allowed to see her once in the remaining five years of Catherine’s life. Declared illegitimate, Mary’s relationship with her father deteriorated because of her disobedience to him after the divorce. She received little sympathy from her stepmother, Anne Boleyn. Mary also gradually lost those who had been largely responsible for her upbringing, through the departure of her Spanish teacher, Juan Luis Vives, the death of her Latin mentor, Thomas Linacre, the execution of her governess, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, and her other tutor Richard Fetherson — all on her father’s orders. Some of these events may well account for the intolerance that Mary I displayed in the persecution of her Protestant subjects during the five years she was queen, earning her the sobriquet “Bloody Mary.” Despite all of these mawkishly depressive events in her life, the sine qua non of it all was that she found solace in her studies and in her religious devotion. One of her last recorded activities was her unfinished translation of Erasmus’ paraphrase of the Gospel of Saint John.
Apparently, the British monarchy has changed greatly as an institution from the semi-absolute authority of the Tudors, through the more limited monarchy of the Stuart period, to the constitutional monarchy of the 20th century. Given these changes, with the power of kings and queens diminished over the years, how should the royals be educated then, when little or no power is now involved? What kind of education should accompany or replace the flattery they received when a sound general education is now regarded as the right of every child?
The authors recommended that, assuming that the British monarchy will survive in some form in the future and they will be regarded as normal members of society with no special privileges, they should receive a special kind of vocational training that is democracy-oriented, highlighting five broad areas that have had continuous significance: history, moral education, decision-making, economics and finance, and theological issues. Moreover, the future monarch should be educated in institutions other than the cliché Eton College, and Oxford and Cambridge universities.
The bottom line of modernizing royal educational practices is for the future monarch to learn how to immerse with the common people, if not become a Welfare Monarch – someone who is converted from being magical into someone who is practical, with real concern for democracy and the people.