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Woman & Home
Lifestyle
Laura Harman

Prince Harry's frivolous reason for considering the same university subject as Kate Middleton

Prince Harry revealed the frivolous reason

Prince Harry revealed the frivolous reason that he considered studying the same degree at university as his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales.


In January 2023, Prince Harry's autobiography, Spare, was released to the public and gave readers an insight into the Duke of Sussex's life. In the book, there were a number of stories the Prince revealed about the Royal Family. In one chapter, Prince Harry said Prince William 'knocked him to the floor' during a physical 'attack' and also revealed Kate Middleton’s ‘awkward’ lipgloss moment with Meghan Markle.

In another part of his book, the Prince reflected on his decision to not go to university and revealed that he wasn't encouraged by his father to take on higher education. "That was why he didn’t press me to go to university. He knew it wasn't in my DNA. Not that I was anti-university, per se," said the Prince. 

(Image credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Prince then added a surprising comment about considering studying History of Art, the course that the Prince and Princess of Wales both initially studied at St Andrews University in Scotland. The Prince joked that he only considered this university course because of the 'pretty girls' that took the subject.

"In fact, the University of Bristol looked interesting. I’d pored over its literature, even considered a course in art history. (Lots of pretty girls took that subject)," the Duke wrote.

The Princess of Wales completed her time at St Andrew's with a degree in Art History, although Prince William studied the same subject at first, he later switched to a Geography course.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Prince then added that his father, the King, also agreed that he wasn't the 'family scholar' and wasn't 'the university type'. "But I just couldn't picture myself spending years bent over a book. My Eton housemaster couldn't either. He'd told me straight-out: You’re not the university type, Harry. Now Pa added his assent. It was no secret, he said gently, that I wasn’t the 'family scholar'," he said.

Prince Harry studied at Eton College, a prestigious school in Windsor, near the Queen's former Berkshire home, Windsor Castle. When the Prince left school he had only 2 A-level passes, typically students leave with three or four A-levels. The Prince received a B in Art and a D in Geography.

Rather than going to university the Prince took a gap year and travelled to Australia and Africa. In 2003 at age 19 he spent two months as a jackaroo in rural Queensland. The Prince also worked in Southern Africa, specifically in Lesotho where he visited an orphanage for children with AIDS and helped to build a clinic and road bridge.

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