Three teenage girls have been sexually assaulted at the exclusive Swiss school where Princess Beatrice is set to start in September.

The girls, aged between 15 and 16, were attacked in a bedroom at the Aiglon boarding school, near Villars in the Swiss Alps.

Maurice Gehri, a spokesman for Vaud Police, said an investigation was underway.

Gas claim

He declined to comment on reports that the girls, from Switzerland, Turkey and Australia were sprayed with an anaesthetising gas, and that one of them was raped.

Princess Beatrice, the 11-year-old elder daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York is set to join Aiglon in September.

The current headmaster, Richard McDonald, was educated at Gordonstoun at the same time as the Duke of York.

Philosophy

The �17,000-a-year international school subscribes to the Kurt Hahn education philosophy, which focuses on practical as well academic work.

There are currently 300 pupils, aged nine to 18 and coming from about 50 countries.

No-one at the school was available to comment on the incident.