The Institut Alpin Videmanette was a finishing school in the municipality of Rougemont, Switzerland. It was an all-girl school where the lessons were skiing, cooking, dressmaking[1] and French.[1][2]
In 1973, the school was headed by Monsieur and Madame C. L. Yersin.[3] In 1981, it was reported to have an age range between sixteen and twenty and to teach language and commercial programmes through the medium of the French language.[4]
The main facilities were in Château d'Œx.[5][6]
Tamara Mellon was at the school in the mid-1980s, when it had some sixty girls and was still headed by Madame Yersin. She later wrote of it that "The assumption was that you were a dunce and that the only hope for you was to attach yourself to what was known as a good provider." In her day there was a smoking room and in the winter months there were skiing lessons every afternoon. Girls would often meet boys from Le Rosey at a nightclub in Gstaad. The winter campus of Le Rosey was nearby.[7]
The school closed in 1991.[8]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).brown
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Lady Diana went to the Institut Alpin Videmanette at the Chateau d'Oex near Gstaad.
Prior to her engagement, Diana worked as a teacher at Young England School in Pimlico. The charitable princess took on the role after returning to London from the exclusive Chateau D'Oex finishing school in Rougemont, Switzerland in 1978.