AN investigation has been launched into the death of a teenager at an exclusive Hampshire school.

The body of Nicholas Rowe was found hanging in his room at the upmarket Stanbridge Earls School, near Romsey.

Detectives have been questioning shocked youngsters at the £19,272-a-year school to discover what led to the sudden death of the 16-year-old.

Emergency services were called to the school after he was discovered in his bedroom, which he shared with up to four other pupils, at the stately boarding school.

Ambulance crews were on the scene within five minutes and took the boy to the Southampton General Hospital, nine miles away. However, he was pronounced dead on arrival, shortly before 11pm on Saturday.

The boy's father flew back from America yesterday to formally identify his son. His mother is understood to live in St Albans.

Nicholas would have been due to sit GCSE exams in just a few months.

Police have launched an investigation but say they are not treating the incident as suspicious.

A post-mortem carried out yesterday found that death was a result of asphyxiation caused by hanging.

Winchester Coroners' Office says an inquest should be opened and adjourned tomorrow.

Yesterday the flag was flying at half mast at the school which is based in an ancient manor house that dates back to the 13th century, and is set in spectacular 50-acre grounds between Romsey and Awbridge.

It caters specially for dyslexic children, children with special educational needs and children who struggle in large schools, and has an unusually high teacher-to-pupil ratio, with each tutor looking after about eight pupils.

A qualified medical team also offers counselling sessions to pupils.

Classes are made up of just ten pupils and the school boasts its own indoor swimming pool and motor car engineering workshop.

Of the 200 pupils, about 175 are boarders. Film director Guy Ritchie is listed among the well-known alumni. Husband to popstar Madonna, Guy was a pupil at the school for three years in the 1980s.

On the school website, headmaster Nicholas Hall writes: "Stanbridge Earls is a very happy and close-knit community, which places the academic, pastoral, emotional, spiritual and physical development of its pupils central to its ethos."

A statement from the school said: "The police are investigating the death of a Year 11 pupil at Stanbridge Earls School. Parents have been advised and the matter has been referred to the coroner."