United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (also known as USNA, Annapolis, or simply Navy) is a four-year coeducational federal service academy adjacent to Annapolis, Maryland. Established on 10 October 1845, under Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, it is the second oldest of the United States' five service academies, and educates officers for commissioning primarily into the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The campus is located on the former grounds of Fort Severn at the confluence of the Severn River and Chesapeake Bay in Anne Arundel County, east of Washington, D.C. and southeast of Baltimore. The entire campus (known to insiders as "the Yard") is a National Historic Landmark and home to many historic sites, buildings, and monuments. It replaced Philadelphia Naval Asylum, in Philadelphia, that served as the first United States Naval Academy from 1838 to 1845 when the Naval Academy formed in Annapolis.
The Royal School, Haslemere
In 1815 The Battle of Waterloo finally put an end to the Napoleonic Wars. In the following peace, the Navy was put on half or even quarter pay. Peace also brought an end to the prize money from captured ships. As the Navy had been at war pretty well non-stop since the 1770s, the potential for Senior Officers to become wealthy and to set themselves up as country gentlemen had become established. The peace brought significant change in their way of life. After Waterloo many Naval Officers found themselves in financial difficulty. They were able to send their young sons from age nine upwards to sea as mid-shipmen where they would gain an education and valuable experience. Their daughters, however, were in a more difficult position. They were too high up the social scale to engage in any menial work to earn their own living but too poor to attract the attention of eligible husbands.
Admiral Jahleel Brenton, Admiral Sir Thomas Williams and Captain Hon. Francis Maude established The Royal Naval Female School as it was then known, specifically to provide a sound education which would enable the girls to go out into employment almost certainly as teachers and governesses. The school was founded for the daughters and sisters of Naval and Marine Officers.
Queen Victoria and the Queen Dowager were among the first subscribers and from the outset the School had the patronage of The Queen. The Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, opened the QEII Sixth Form building in 1989. In 1975 Princess Anne inherited the Presidency from her uncle, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, after whom the Humanities block is now named. Princess Anne has visited the school, her most recent visit being for Prize Day in 2010. The Princess Anne Sports Hall was opened by her in 1986.