Prince Charles, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex all went to Gordonstoun near Elgin in the north of the country.

But a survey of independent boarding schools published in the Sunday Times, which ranked schools according to GCSE and A-level results, showed Gordonstoun lagging behind.

Prince Charles was educated at Gordonstoun

Fettes College in Edinburgh, where Prime Minister Tony Blair was educated, topped the table.

At Fettes 63.3% of exam candidates gained an A grade or better in GCSEs while at Gordonstoun only 35.2% achieved similar grades.

St Leonard's in St Andrew's topped Fettes on this measure with a score of 64.4% but the Edinburgh school performed better at A-level with 71.9% of candidates getting A or B grades compared to St Leonard's 61.4%.

But Gordonstoun headmaster Mark Pyper told the paper the table was weighted against his school because it was the only one in Scotland where every pupil completed GCSE and A-levels.