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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Adeshola Ore and Benita Kolovos

Former Australian classmates intrigued as the boy in the bush becomes King Charles III

Black and white photo of a young Prince Charles sawing a tree with a classmate using a bow saw
’Timbertop gave him a wonderful love of Australia – one he and his mother shares,’ says Chas Armytage, a former classmate of then Prince Charles. Photograph: News Ltd/Newspix/Rex Features

In Victoria’s high country in 1966, a small group of teenage boys snaked through Wonnangatta Valley. Among them was the heir to the British throne, who had sought refuge from public life, a feverish tabloid press and the isolation the shy prince faced at a Scottish boarding school.

In Central Victoria, weekend hikes were part of the gruelling physical schedule that underpins the curriculum at Timbertop, the remote campus of one of Australia’s most elite private schools – Geelong Grammar.

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