Until the 1960s 'Dukies' wore military uniform at all times. This detail from a print of the 1880 painting 'Sons of the Brave' shows pupils of the late Victorian era.
The school dress of 'Dukies' tended to reflect contemporary British military uniform. With the universal adoption of khaki, Dukies were likewise clothed in that drab cloth. At first this took the form of a service dress pattern tunic with a high collar and brass buttons, akin to the First World War style tunic worn by regular soldiers, accompanied by matching khaki serge short trousers in the case of younger boys. A few years after the Second World War, Dukies were reclothed in 1949 pattern khaki battledress, the everyday dress of the postwar army, although once again younger pupils were issued with short trousers (see photograph below, right). A 1959 article from Soldier reports that junior boys looked forward to entering the fourth form when they exchanged 'their rather odd-looking battledress shorts for the coveted long trousers.' The contrasting pictures below show young Dukies from the 1890s and 1950s.
During the 1960s the military ethos of the school was diluted and this was reflected in the abandonment of military dress. As a history of boy soldiers in the British Army puts it: 'Overnight the school was transformed - off came the khaki uniforms, the studded boots, the chevrons of boy soldier rank and on went the grey flannel trousers and blue blazers of a normal English boarding school'. Nowadays boys wear army kit when training with the school cadet corps and parade on special occasions in the more formal military uniform seen in the picture below. The rest of the time they dress like numerous other British schoolboys.
Described in its prospectus as 'a boarding school for the sons of Scottish sailors, soldiers and airmen' the QVS was opened at Dunblane in 1908. As with its English counterpart, the Duke of York's School, the military ethos of the Queen Victoria School has been diluted in recent decades.
The traditional ceremonial uniform of glengarry, scarlet tunic and kilt is worn for church parade and special occasions and the school boasts a famous pipe band and highland dancers.
