But when Bede was awarded dux at the senior prizegiving on Thursday night, he conceded it was a surprise and a relief.
"It was just good to know that I could set a goal to do my best and achieve it.
''It's also good to have the whole family up there on the honours board.
''That's quite cool.
"It was always clear from Mum and Dad, and the school, that there was no expectation for me to be dux.
"And if I worked hard and got dux, that was a bonus."
The 17-year-old's brothers, Jesse and Bonar, were duxes in 2003 and 2006.
Although all three are gifted academics, Bede said they were all "quite different".
Jesse is a "science and maths buff", now studying for a PhD in geology at Australian National University in Canberra.
Bonar's flair lay in history, classics and commerce, and he is now studying accounting and film at the University of Otago.
Bede described himself as specialising in arts - music, painting and design, in particular - and plans to study architecture at Victoria University in Wellington next year.
Principal Dan Reddiex was delighted with the family's success.
"What do you say.
''It is an outstanding family.
''All the boys performed exceptionally in an academic sense.
''They're very gifted musically but I think, just as importantly, they are grounded, mature and humble young men.
''They are the sort of kids that every school just dreams of having."
The prizegiving was a family affair, with Bonar and parents Pippa (Queens High School accounting teacher) and Bruce Robertson (assistant auditor-general) there to watch Bede receive the dux award.
Jesse was unable to attend.
The family was presented with a plaque made from recycled rimu panelling from the original 1936 Kings High School administration building, with photographs of the three brothers.
Uncannily, remarkable success also came to another family Robertson at Kings.
However, Stephen (former dux, now senior lecturer at Sydney University), Craig (former proxime accessit, now an associate professor at Champagne University in the United States) and Grant Robertson (former proxime accessit, recently elected MP for Wellington Central) are not related to the present dux.
Twins Henry and Sammy Benson-Pope also had success in the Bayfield High School senior prizegiving on Thursday night.
Sammy was awarded proxime accessit and Henry co-dux with Ilija Tolich.
Henry and Sammy are the children of former Dunedin South Labour MP David Benson-Pope and Jan Flood.
