It’s pretty self-explanatory that the royal family and the Made In Chelsea cast all originated in posh private schools. But a disturbing amount of celebs also went to posh UK private schools. I guess it’s easier to follow your dreams if you have the full support of the Bank of Mummy and Daddy. So, here are all the UK celebs you probably didn’t know went to private schools.
Jonathan Bailey
A completely randomly chosen pic of Jonathan Bailey in Bridgerton
(Image via Netflix)
Going to a posh school must have been useful background work for playing Anthony in Bridgerton and a prince at the weird boarding school in Wicked. Jonathan Bailey went to The Oratory School in the countryside near Reading.
The school now lets girls in. But when Jonathan Bailey was there, it would have been an all boys Catholic boarding school, which must have made for a pretty intense childhood.
Kit Connor
Kit Connor at school in Hearstopper
(Image via Netflix)
The Hearstopper star went to Whitgift School in South Croydon. It’s an all-boys school and this year it’s charging day pupils £28,255 a year. Kit Connor did A-Levels in drama, English lit and history, if anyone cares, before becoming a full time actor.
Anya Taylor-Joy
Anya Taylor-Joy slaying in The Menus
(Image via Disney+)
So, Anya Taylor-Joy was born in Miami, then lived in Buenos Aires until she was six, then moved to the spenny Victoria area of London. For primary school, she went to the very fancy Hill House School in Knightsbridge, where King Charles and Lily Allen went. She also studied at the all girls’ day school Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington, where the senior school fees are £27,225. Queen Camilla, Nigella Lawson and Tilda Swinton also went there. What a random collection of individuals.
Money apparently doesn’t buy happiness, because Anya Taylor-Joy complained to The Standard in 2017 that she had a “tough time” at school. She said, “The kids just didn’t understand me in any shape or form, and I was really badly bullied. I used to get locked in lockers, you know, barred from classrooms, not invited to things. It wasn’t pleasant.”
Emilia Clarke
Emilia Clarke in Secret Invasion
(Image via Disney+)
The actress went to Rye St Antony School in Oxford, then St Edward’s School – the same place that spawned Florence Pugh. Emilia Clarke apparently left there in 2005, so they probably didn’t overlap at all.
She told Flaunt that she felt out of place at St Edward’s because she was less posh and less of a mini Tory than the other students were.
Tom Holland
24-year-old Tom Holland pretending to be a schoolboy in No Way Home
(Image via Disney+)
Yes, Spider-Man is more middle class than he lets on. He was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was seven, so his parents decided to send him to private school so he could get more support with reading – along with his three younger brothers, so they wouldn’t feel left out. He went to Donhead, a private prep school in Wimbledon which now costs £14,985 a year.
Abigail Morris
(Image via YouTube)
The lead singer from The Last Dinner Party is one of many, many celebs to have gone to Bedales School in Hampshire. The school has a very strong focus on the arts, and its students are known for enjoying a good time.
Loads of celebrities went there, so now all the current pupils are convinced they too are predestined to become Lily Allen. Cara and Poppy Delevingne, Juno Temple and Kirstie Allsopp also went there.
Jack Whitehall
Jack Whitehall in Fatherhood With My Father
(Image via Netflix)
Marlborough College in Wiltshire is responsible for Jack Whitehall. It’s a full boarding school that charges an eye-watering £50,985. A load of royal family members also went there, including Kate and Pippa Middleton, and Princesses Eugenie.
Florence Pugh
Mini Florence Pugh in The Falling, while she was still at school
(Image via Prime Video)
Our queen Florence Pugh went to two different posh private schools in Oxford. Wychwood School costs £22,275 a year for day pupils, and St Edward’s School now charges day pupils a harrowing £40,185 each year. Both are in vibey Victorian buildings, which must have been excellent preparation for all the period dramas Florence Pugh has starred in.
Florence wasn’t a fan of her education. She complained to The Guardian in 2018 that the teachers didn’t support her dreams of being an actress. “For a long time it was like, ‘I know these people don’t back me’, because they didn’t. When I wanted to do The Falling, I was told it wasn’t going to work, which was shocking to me, because [drama is] the only thing I’ve ever been good at.”
William Gao
William Gao in Hearstopper
(Image via Netflix)
The actor who plays Tao Xu in Heartstopper went to a private school down the road from where Kit Connor was. Trinity School of John Whitgift is part of the same trust as Kit Connor’s school is. The fees at Trinity School of John Whitgift are mildly less extortionate that the ones at Kit Connor’s school, at £24,500 a year.
