Felix Hawes was a student at King’s Ely from Reception through to Year 13 (2005 to 2019). After leaving King’s Ely Sixth Form, Felix, who was Head of School, studied Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham. Felix is currently working at a secondary school in Nottingham as an SEN Teaching Assistant, and in September 2023 he will be returning to the University of Nottingham to study a PGCE in History. With a love of history, the Royals, and all things King’s Ely, Felix decided that the Coronation of King Charles III was the perfect opportunity to delve deep into the school archives to find out more about its connections with The Royal Family…
“On Saturday May 6th, King Charles III was crowned. Now is therefore a perfect time to reflect on King’s Ely’s links to the Kings and Queens of Britain’s past. Of course, the most obvious connection is the name King’s Ely. Although King’s has existed since 970 AD, which makes it one of the oldest schools in the world, it has not always been known as King’s Ely.
“In 1541, after the Reformation, many schools connected to monasteries were at risk of the same fate to the abbeys in which they were housed – demolition. King’s, a school run by Ely monks, was no exception. Henry VIII issued a Royal Charter, permitting the school to continue, which is when it became the King’s School Ely. It was one of seven King’s Schools. The name King’s School Ely was not however retained, as when Oliver Cromwell became Britain’s only non-royal Head of State, many links to the crown were greatly frowned upon. At this point, in 1653, the school was re-named Ely Cathedral Grammar School. When Queen Anne took the throne in 1702, it became known as Queen Anne’s School. The change of name because the country had a Queen, rather than a King, was an exception in this time period. No other Queen has resulted in a name change. The name King’s School Ely made a return in 1720, of which it remained until 2012, when it was then shortened to King’s Ely to make it more distinct from the other six King’s Schools re-founded by Henry VIII in 1541.
“King’s Ely has also had some British Royalty attend as pupils. In fact, the first pupil recorded in Higdon’s Polychronion was Princess Withburga, daughter of King Anna of the East Angles. This was in the seventh century, when the school was in its first form (it was burned down by the Danes in 840 before being started up again by Athelwold, Bishop of Worcester in 970). The other pupil was King Edward the Confessor, who reigned England from 1042-1066. Edward was the Monarch who had Westminster Abbey built, the building that has seen forty coronations, including the one of Charles III. Edward the Confessor attended King’s around 1012, when he was brought by his parents, Queen Emma and King Etheldred, to the Abbot of Ely, Loefsin, himself an Old Elean. It has been noted that Edward enjoyed his time at school. Edward was a Chorister, and as noted by Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his speech to the school for its Millennium celebrations, King’s Ely is unique in that it has had both a King and a Saint in its Choir, both being Edward the Confessor. Edward’s strong religious convictions that later got him the epithet, ‘The Confessor’, potentially also arose from his time at King’s. His strong affinity towards Ely can be noted that he issued a charter, later approved by Pope Victor II, that exempted the abbot and monks of Ely from crown interference. Edward the Confessor may have had a good time at Ely, but his brother, Alfred, unfortunately did not. He was murdered where the Cathedral now stands after the torturous removal of his eyes killed him!
“Edward the Confessor’s role in the school continued beyond his tenure. There is much debate over whether one of the old school badges that was discontinued in 2012 had Edward the Confessor on it, or whether it was St. Etheldreda. Edward the Confessor’s coat of arms can also be seen on the Porta Gate, the old entrance to the school that now houses offices and the school library. However, this is not because of Edward’s status as an Old Elean, but because he was the Patron Saint of King Richard II, who was King at the time of the building of the Porta in 1397. Additionally, upon the 900th anniversary of Edward the Confessor’s death, the then school headmaster and all the King’s Scholars attended a service at Westminster Abbey to remember one of the oldest Old Eleans.
“Although not a royal, Old Elean, Richard Fitzneal, served as Henry II’s (reigned 1154-1189) Lord High Treasurer, a role that is now synonymous to the Prime Minister.
“It is not just the name of the school that has Royal connections, but also that of the Houses. Withburga, sister of St. Etheldreda and Old Elean Princess, forms the namesake of one of King’s Ely Senior’s Day Girls’ Houses. Queen Emma, the mother who sent her son, Edward the Confessor, to King’s is the namesake of one of the Houses in King’s Ely Junior. Queen Philippa, the wife of King Edward III (reigned 1327-1377), was a frequent visitor to Ely and is the namesake of another of King’s Ely Junior’s Houses. In fact, Queen Philippa was such a frequent visitor to Ely that Prior Crauden had a building constructed in 1330 for her to reside in on her visits. This building is known as Queen’s Hall and has been the house of the Principal of King’s Ely since the Victorian times.
“Events involving the Royals have also had connections to King’s. Hereward the Wake led the last Saxon earl rebellion against William the Conqueror in 1071, and the teachers of the then King’s Ely, the monks, gave William access to a secret passageway that led to the defeat of the Rebellion. The Civil War had a profound impact. Oliver Cromwell’s roundhead Calvary used the school’s now dining hall, the Monastic Barn, to keep his horses! The boys of Ely also tuned in to hear King George VI’s victory speech on VE Day, and attended the Cathedral to hear the news of his death and the proclamation of the new Queen. The school regularly has made a big deal of all Royal celebrations, including more recently the Platinum Jubilee for Queen Elizabeth II and the Coronation of our new King Charles III.
“King’s Ely’s ties to The Royal Family lie within the core of the school, as it has not one Royal Charter, but three. The first was the official re-foundation and re-naming by King Henry VIII on 10th September 1541. At that time, Henry VIII gave the school the building now known as School House, the second oldest residential building in Europe (Junior boarding house, Priory, is the oldest). The school had another issued by Elizabeth I in 1562, and a third by Charles II in 1666. Charles II even made an amendment from Elizabeth I’s to ensure that King’s Ely pupils no longer had to learn Greek and Hebrew as a requirement! One of the key aspects of the Royal Charter is the establishment of one of the school’s oldest institutions: the King’s Scholars. Henry VIII issued that there should be twenty-four King’s Scholars. The King’s Scholars hold an important status in the Cathedral Foundation and the ties to the Crown are strong. There are only ten schools that have them, and the ones at Westminster School traditionally perform the Vivitas greeting to the King at the Coronation, of which they did with Charles III as well. It is unknown how they were originally appointed but at first, they were likely to be relatives of the Dean and Chapter. By Elizabeth I, eight were appointed by the Dean and two each from every other Cathedral Canon. Now, Scholars are appointed based on GCSE results. The Scholars are still rooted to the Crown, with the Crown symbol on the Scholar’s cravats and ties, and the reference to the monarchy in their service and celebrations of admission. King’s and Queen’s Scholars read at the Order of Thanksgiving Service for King Charles III in Ely Cathedral on Coronation Weekend. The Royal Charter outlines many privileges that Scholars are allowed and duties that they must perform. Henry VIII decreed that Scholars should be ‘suitably robed’ of which they are in red gowns, and a Cathedral Statute later issued on 20th June 1544 by King Henry VIII commanded that Scholars should process in services and wear gowns. A Chapter Act in 1673 wrote it into the statutes that Scholars should have specific seats to be able to sit on in services.
“Other privileges bestowed upon Scholars are that they can be married, buried, and ‘play games’ on Cathedral grounds. The ‘play games’ element is now represented by the school’s annual and ancient tradition of the Hoop Trundle. In the Hoop Trundle, Scholars hit a wooden hoop around a short course on the Cathedral’s East Lawn (though the specific location has moved around the Cathedral grounds) with a stick. Although King Henry VIII appointed the first King’s Scholars in 1541, the first Queen’s Scholars were not appointed until 1973. The story goes that Queen Elizabeth II visited the school in November 1973 and was greeted by the King’s Scholars, where she then asked, “and where are the girls?”. It was then explained to her by the then Headmaster that the Royal Charter did not permit them. Elizabeth II therefore appointed the first Queen’s Scholars. It is heavily rumoured that the late Queen was aware of the fact that there were not any Queen’s Scholars and that that was one of the purposes of her visit to the school. The connection was an important one with Elizabeth II sending letters to the Queen’s Scholars. The Visitor’s Feast, held in honour of the Bishop of Ely who is the Visitor of the School (an ancient but now more ceremonial title), is held in November to mark the anniversary of Elizabeth II’s appointment of Queen Scholars, and she herself attended the Visitor’s Feast in 1973! A toast to the Monarch is always given by the Heads of School at the Visitor’s Feast, as well as at the Old Eleans’ Dinner.
“Time will tell what connections our new Monarch, King Charles III, will have with the school.
Sources
Ikin, R.G. M.A. (1931), Notes on the Ely Cathedral Grammar School or the King’s School Ely
Owen, Dorothy M. and Dorethea Hurley (1982), The Cambridge Antiquarian Records Society Volume 5
Salzman, L.F (ed.) (1948) A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 2
King’s Ely archives, as researched by Felix Hawes and Tristan Harding
