The prestigious school attended by the Prince of Wales has been rocked by a drugs scandal after 12 students were caught up in a cannabis crackdown.

One pupil has been expelled from Gordonstoun and 11 have been suspended from the £24,000-a-year school following an internal investigation.

Gordonstoun School has been rocked by a drugs scandal with 12 students caught up in a cannabis crackdown

Prince Charles attended the prestigious school in the 1960s

Teachers launched the inquiry at the exclusive school in Elgin, Moray, Scotland, after hearing that one of the students had been dealing cannabis.

The pupils were asked to admit smoking cannabis and be suspended, or take a urine test and be expelled if it came back positive, according to The Sun.

The investigation took place during the last two weeks of the summer term.

Headmaster Mark Pyper said: 'Gordonstoun has a strict policy in relation to drugs and both pupils and parents are made aware of this policy from the outset.

'As soon as we became aware of a possible problem, we took action and as a result one pupil was asked to leave and 11 were suspended for two weeks.'

Prince Charles was a pupil at Gordonstoun in the 1960s and other Royals to attend the school include Prince Philip, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, Peter Phillips and his sister Zara.

A Grampian Police spokesman said: 'We were made aware in June 2008 by the school of a matter concerning non-class A drugs.

'The matter has been dealt with internally and there was no requirement for police involvement.

'As such, the matter is entirely one for the school and it would be inappropriate for Grampian Police to make any further comment.'