King Charles was assaulted at school when he was 13: ‘Nose broken by bullies…'

When Charles attended the school it was not heated and its windows were left wide open even in the winter.

Britain's King Charles III arrives to inspect Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, at the gates of Balmoral.(AFP)

Young King Charles was bullied mercilessly at the school whcih he called 'Colditz in Kilts' but his brother, the Duke of York, fought back and "was just as good with the verbals as with his fists". Charles and and Andrew studied at Gordonstoun, a remote boarding school on the north coast of Scotland. At the school, King Charles struggled while his younger brother had a thicker skin - and became the "leader of the pack"

King Charles' father Prince Philip insisted on the future monarch attending the same school that he went to and had been happy at. Prince Philip thought that the school's austere environment would toughen King Charles up. Margaret Rhodes, the Queen’s cousin and confidante, said, "Gordonstoun was supposed to 'make a man out of him', although I never really understood what that meant."

When Charles attended the school it was not heated and its windows were left wide open even in the winter. His bed was next to a window and he often woke to find his bedding frozen with frost, Nigel Cawthorne revealed in 'War Of The Windsors: The Inside Story Of Charles, Andrew And The Rivalry That Has Defined The Royal Family'

Every morning, even in the snow, King Charles had to endure a pre-dawn run followed by an icy shower. He also had to go through horrific bullying. In one incident, the 13-year-old King Charles was grabbed as he came out of the showers, tied up and bundled into a wicker laundry basket which was hung from a wall and blasted with freezing water.

He was left there for half an hour until a staff member heard his distressed cries, the book claims, adding that the monarch suffered regular beatings in the darkness of the dormitory at night and on the rugby pitch, where boys would boast that they had punched the future King of England.

King Charles also suffered a broken nose during one of these on-field assaults - but he did not complain out of fear that it would only make the bullying worse.

But his brother Prince Andrew had a very different experience at the school. One school master said, "If anyone tries to take the mickey out of him, he fights back. He’s just as good with the verbals as with his fists."