King Charles and Princess Anne carry Prince Philip's legacy

Students at King Charles’s former school are making waves by running a 24/7 Coastguard support service, a first for any school in the UK.

Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland, has assembled an operational support team of eight senior students to assist HM Coastguard with coordinating emergency search and rescue missions.

Working behind the scenes, these young volunteers manage communications and logistics, allowing professional coastguards to stay focused on frontline duties. 

Two Coastguard trained staff members supervise all callouts to ensure everything runs smoothly.

The late Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, opened the school’s original watchtower in 1955, which a teenage Prince Charles used during his time at Gordonstoun. 

Reflecting on his involvement in a 1977 broadcast, Charles described it as “extraordinarily exciting and rewarding.” 

Last year, Princess Anne inaugurated the new Winthrop-Young Gordonstoun Coastguard Centre, replacing the historic structure and giving the students a state-of-the-art base for operations.

Assistant Chief Coastguard John McBride praised the collaboration, calling it “a powerful example of how a local community can make a genuine contribution to lifesaving work.”