About Us

Queen's Royal College, referred to for short as QRC, or "The College" by alumni, is the second oldest secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago and is still regarded as the country's bastion of secondary-school education. The college is noted for its famous German Renaissance architecture and tradition of multi-faceted education, which continues to produce some of Trinidad and Tobago's leading thinkers, athletes, artists and politicians.

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The origin of QRC goes back to the Stuart Grammar School, at the corner of Duke and Edward Street, whose Principal was Edward Stuart. In 1859, when a new "collegiate school" was being contemplated, Stuart was invited by the colonial government to be part of the enterprise. The Queen's Collegiate School opened later that year opposite what is now Lord Harris Square, then known as Billiards Orchard. The intention was, as Governor Arthur Hamilton-Gordon told the Legislative Council in 1870, "that its advantages should be open to those of every race and every religion, and that the education given should be of a decidedly superior character."

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In 1870, the school became the Queen's Royal College and was housed in the supper room of the Prince's Building.

When the Government Farm moved from St Clair in 1899, part of the land was reserved as a new home for QRC through the intervention of acting Governor Sir Micah Fields. The school, referred to in those days as Royal College, had 120 pupils, who did not wear a uniform but had to wear a hat or cap bearing the college crest. They learned algebra, geometry, arithmetic, Latin, French, English, geography, history and Greek or Spanish.

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Today in Queen's Royal College uniforms are worn, as at almost all government schools, and QRC projects and involvements usually involve a blue theme, due to the well-known uniform of blue shirtjack and long khaki pants. In 2009, the school implemented a new uniform for formal occasions as existed in the past. Its principal is David Simon.

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Architecture and history of main block The foundation stone was laid on 11 November 1902 by Courtney Knollys, who was the acting Governor of the day. The structure was designed by Daniel M. Hahn, who was Chief Draughtsman of the Public Work Department and an Old Boy of Queen's Royal College, during the period when the school was housed at the Princess Building. The architecture of the building is German Renaissance in style, evident by the solid appearance. Constructed at a cost of 15000 British pounds, the original building accommodated six classes for 30 boys each. The lecture hall could hold over five hundred persons at a time. Notwithstanding the German origin of the plan, a legacy perhaps of Mr Hahn's student days in Berlin, the design of the interior is very definitely tropical with a delightfully aristocratic touch from the days when European school architecture was austere. QRC was not free at some point but after a couple years it became free.