The Royal School, Armagh is a co-educational voluntary grammar school, founded in the 17th century, in the city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. It has a boarding department with an international intake. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History One of a number of free schools created in 1608 by King James I of England & Ireland, the school was to educate the sons of local Protestant merchants and farmers during the plantation of Ulster. It has four "sister" schools: Royal School Dungannon in Dungannon, Enniskillen Royal Grammar School in Enniskillen, the Royal School Cavan in Cavan, and the Royal and Prior School in Raphoe. In November 2013 the school was placed 78th in The Sunday Times Top 200 UK Schools Guide for results at A level and GCSE combined. In May 2014, an inspection by the Education and Training Inspectorate found the leadership and management of the school to be 'outstanding'. Originally intended to be sited at Mountnorris, the turbulent situation in Ulster at the time led to a move to the relative safety of Armagh city. Despite this, an early headmaster of the school, John Starkey, and his family, were drowned by insurgents during the 1641 Rebellion. The school arrived at its current site on College Hill in the 1770s. A boys' school from its inception, the school was amalgamated with Armagh Girls' High School in 1986 to become co-educational. Each pupil is assigned to a house – Darcy, Rokeby, Beresford or Armstrong – which are named after former Church of Ireland archbishops. Successive archbishops have chaired the board of governors for over four centuries. In 2008, the school celebrated its quatercentenary along with the four other 1608 Royal Schools. To mark the occasion, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited the school. A history of the 1608 Royal Schools was produced in the same year by former headmaster, Thomas Duncan. Royal sport The school was the inaugural winner of the rugby union Ulster Schools Cup, beating Royal Belfast Academical Institution after three replays. They won it again the next year and continued to dominate the early years of the competition, winning it seven times in the first ten years. Fortunes waned after this, with only three finals contested between the victories in 1885 and 1977, none of which was won by the school. However, the school did not compete in