BBC News | UK | Royal school hit by sex abuse case

The headmaster of the Swiss school where the Duke and Duchess of York plan to send their daughters has been arrested for alleged child sex abuse.

Richard McDonald, headteacher of exclusive Aiglon College, has resigned from his job.

Swiss police said Mr McDonald had been remanded in custody and a full investigation was under way.

A Buckingham palace spokesman said the Yorks would still be sending their two daughers, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to the �19,500-a-year boarding school.

Intruder

A spokesman said: "The allegations are a matter for Mr McDonald and the Swiss prosecutors."

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie with parents
Close knit family
Swiss police say the alleged sex abuse was not connected with the school, based in the Alpine ski resort of Chesieres-Villars.

And they say there is no link with a sexual assault on three pupils two months ago.

The schoolchildren reported that an intruder crept into their bedroom and attacked them with anaesthetising spray before raping one and sexaully assaulting the other.

Resignation

Oxford-educated Mr McDonald was a contemporary of Prince Andrew when they were pupils at the prestigious Gordonstoun public school.

It was reported on Monday that he had left his job. The decision was attributed to personal problems.

The Duke and Duchess announced in February that their elder daughter Beatrice, 11, had passed her entrance exam to the school.

She is expected to take up her place in September with her younger sister Eugenie, 10, following a year later.


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