Miserable, freezing and the target of bullies, Prince Charles described his years at the Scottish boarding school his father adored as a "prison sentence".
Even better, the lonely heir learned his parents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, had agreed to make the journey north to watch his play.
While family and friends say Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were more hands-on than previous royal parents, they were still often kept busy by their demanding roles.
For Prince Philip, who spent a large part of his teenage years at boarding school and lost his mother at an early age, family affection might not have been something he was all too familiar with.
"Philip is very good with children," Philip's cousin Patricia told Sally Bedell Smith for her 2017 biography Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.
And like his father, Prince Charles came to believe that the monarchy needed to adapt to the times and win over the public through initiatives. .
Prince Charles reportedly said he had missed his father during the separation caused by the coronavirus lockdowns and gave a touching tribute to his "dear papa" days after he passed.
"My family and I miss my father enormously," he said.
It is said that Charles began to see his father in a different light in the weeks after his ex-wife Diana died in a car crash in 1997.
The Queen famously insisted on keeping Harry and William ensconced at the sprawling Scottish estate Balmoral, where Philip tried his best to keep them busy.
While Harry later said it was a task "no child should be asked to do" at just 12, he eventually agreed with his grandfather that he would regret it if he did not see his mother to her final resting place
According to Matt Smith, the actor who went on to play Prince Philip in the first two seasons of The Crown, when he bumped into Prince William at a polo match and asked him for advice on how to play his grandfather, the response was immediate:
Royal expert Carolyn Durand,  who co-authored Finding Freedom, which detailed Meghan and Harry's many struggles with royal life, said Prince Harry shared a similar awe of his grandfather
"I mean, Prince Philip was the person that really stood by William and Harry when their mother died," she said
Now, more than 30 years after the duke helped ensure his family gave Princess Diana a proper send off, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry will pay him a similar honour, with the trio reportedly set to walk behind the duke's coffin
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