Former schoolboy rugby player David Borthwick revealed the moment he took on King Charles III in a fierce game which left the future king with a broken nose.
He claims the future king bore the brunt of a scrum but his nose survived in a game between Bruce House Boys and Gordonstoun School in 1964.
His headmaster told the Press at the time it had been an unfortunate accident, but it now seems that wasn’t the case.
Borthwick told The Times: ‘There was this great big mound of boys and we all jumped in. His head popped up from the bottom and there were a few clenched fists and things.
‘I’m not saying I went for him — we all went for him, we all just seemed to pick the same moment. I went for his left earhole, I gave it a good crunch.’
A spokeswoman for the Royal Family confirmed in a statement that the King attended Gordonstoun more than 50 years ago but wouldn’t comment on the particular incident.
Graham Hadley, head of the Prince’s house at Gordonstoun in 1966, told the Daily Mail: “There was a boy on the other side in a rugger match who made it known he was going to get Charles.
“He wanted to show him that, just because he was royal, he wasn’t better than any of the rest of us. This guy struck when Charles was in a scrum. He emerged bleeding with his nose broken. He had been hit hard.’
“Everyone was furious with the boy who hit Charles, even his own side.”