An exclusive prep school that catered for royalty is to close, blaming the impact of the invasion of Iraq and the Sars epidemic.

Millbrook House School, in Milton, near Abingdon, will close its doors next month because too few pupils have enrolled for the next academic year.

The £4,800-a-term boarding school used to be a popular choice for children of the wealthy and famous. Past students have included the Queen's nephew, Viscount Linley, and Steve James, son of actor Sid James.

Simon Glazebrook, headteacher at the school, said the impact of the global recession, international uncertainty caused by the Sars virus and the war in Iraq had led to fewer students joining the school.

The Glazebrook family, which has run the school for the past 40 years, decided to close it after the roll for September 2003 dropped to just five pupils from the current level of 35.

Ten staff will lose their jobs and the families of pupils enrolled for next year will have to send their children elsewhere.

Mr Glazebrook said the school's relatively small size meant a small drop in pupils had a devastating effect its viability.

He said: "The problems of Sars in the Far East and the war in the Middle East meant we have had fewer overseas pupils than we might have expected.

"We haven't been particularly strong over the past few years and a few students less was the difference between make or break for us.

"Nearly half the school is leaving to take Common Entrance this year and we need at least 40 pupils to be financially viable.

"There might have been other options but as a family business it's difficult to have someone else come in."

Millbrook House School catered for boys aged from seven and 14. The family has not yet decided what to do with the school site.