Hill House’s 75th Anniversary – An Alma Mater of Talal Malik, Alpha1Education
13 September 2026 – Alpha1Education Founding Chairman Talal Malik shares his perspective on his alma mater, Hill House School, London – King Charles III’s first school – as it commemorates its 75 Year Anniversary in 2026. (Thought Leadership)
Hill House International Junior School, King Charles III’s first school, celebrates its 75th Anniversary today.
It was on September 13, 1951, that Hill House opened its doors to pupils in Knightsbridge in Chelesa in London, UK. Five years later, the school welcomed Prince Charles as a pupil, becoming the first school to educate a British heir to the throne in a millennia.
I myself am an alumnus of Hill House from the 1980s with two tenures, having been educated at both its main school in Hans Place and the Duke of Yorks, but also its original campus in Glion sur Montreux in Switzerland, the precursor of which at La Tour de Peliz in Canton Vaud opened in 1949. Its distinctive uniform, then only purchasable at Harrods, was mustard yellow sweaters and burgundy knickerbockers for boys and equivalent colours with a skirt for girls.
It was always a pleasure to be in the company of its founder, Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Townend, as well as having been taught by his son, Richard Townend, having visited the school – and him now as Warden – in 2024, for the 75th Anniversary of its founding of its Swiss campus.
The motto of the school, still placed near the staircase at its Hans Place entrance, was and is ‘A child’s mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.’
Reading as the Exercise of the Mind.
At Oxford, Colonel Townend was the President of the Oxford University Athletics Club, of which I was also a member during my tenure at Pembroke College. This meant there was extensive sports throughout the school day, akin to a modern Plato’s Academy, including my favourite of Athletics at the Duke of Yorks on King’s Road in Chelsea.
Sport as the Exercise of the Body.
Daily, at St. Columba’s Church behind Harrods, the School Assembly would commence with the national anthem ‘God Save The Queen’ and end with William Blake’s, as arranged by Parry and Elgar a century ago, ‘Jerusalem’, my favourite hymn.
Prayer as the Exercise of the Heart.
I got to see Lt. Col. Townend at the 50th Anniversary of the school in 2001, with him passing away in 2002. In 2011, British author Neil Sullivan in honour of the School’s 60th Anniversary wrote about the school and the Lt. Col. Townend, the book titled ‘The King of Hans Place.’ I see as its topical precursor the 1950 book, ‘The Little Princesses’, written by Marion Crawford, the governess to the child Queen Elizabeth II, as it marks the culmination of royal education within the Palace walls.
Hill House is still owned and operated by the Townend family, with Richard as Warden. More details at: https://hillhouseschool.co.uk
Happy 75th Anniversary Alma Mater, Hill House.