TWO teenagers fall in love and run away. Distressing as it has been for all concerned, there’s nothing unusual about youngsters escaping for a romantic tryst.

But unlike most kids their age they didn’t head for a seedy B&B in Blackpool. Being privileged they had the funds – and the confidence – to get on a plane for the Dominican Republic. They undoubtedly had the time of their lives, sunning themselves and drinking expensive cocktails, before returning to face the music at home. And if they hadn’t been caught, they’d probably still be there until a responsible adult put a stop on the credit card.

But let’s get a few facts straight here. They’ve been irresponsible, but they’ve done nothing illegal. At 16, you can have sex and leave the country without parental consent. God forbid, they could have headed to Gretna Green and made their love official.

They could even have joined the Army, but where’s the romance in that?

The fact is that in the real world 16-year-olds - and, sadly, even younger - have relationships and don’t have to run away to enjoy the privilege.

But teens can’t do what teens do naturally in the strict Catholic environment of the co-educational boarding school.

For the free thinkers, with personal bank accounts, rebellion seems like an irresistible counter-attack.

And I should know. I’ve been rebelling all my life against the guilt-inducing teachings of my girls’ Catholic convent school. I can laugh heartily now at the strict tactics they employed to keep us eternally chaste. “If the lights go down in the disco, jump on the table and shout ‘I am a Christian’,” the nuns ordered.

Yes, it was years ago, but a religion that still demands celibacy from its priests is always going to be uneasy around sex and relationships -– and for hormonal teenagers that makes for a stifling environment.

My school, with over 1,000 pupils, was thrown into a state of panic when boys were admitted in my final year. It was Sodom and Gomorrah.

The nuns who had ruled us with a rod of iron got little respect from the local Catholic boys and very soon the common room was writhing with frenzied teens snogging each others’ faces at every opportunity.

As a mother, I can empathise with the parents. They must have been worried sick. But as someone who has lived in the ‘religious strait-jacket’ of the Catholic education system, and without condoning their great escape, I would be questioning why Edward and Indira went to such huge lengths, wasting massive public funds, to get away.