Top British private school Eton College will close for a week after a pupil tested positive for the A/H1N1 flu, a school spokesman said on Thursday.

The school, which is due to re-open on Sunday after half-term, is advised by Health authorities to shut until June 7.

The Berkshire fee-charging boys school, which was attended by generations of British prime ministers, royals including Princes William and Harry, was informed on Wednesday that a 13-year-old boy had tested positive.

"The boy has a mild illness and is now recovering at home," said the spokesman, adding that the school is currently closed for a half-term holiday and is due to re-open on Sunday.

After discussion with the Health Protection Agency (HPA), which is managing response to the threatened worldwide pandemic, "the school plans to remain closed until June 7," the spokesman said.

The news comes after health officials announced a further 17 people in Britain were diagnosed with the virus, taking the total number of the cases to 203.

Fourteen of the new cases -- 13 children and one adult -- are part of an outbreak now totaling 64 cases linked to Welford Primary School in Birmingham.

Two adults in London and a child in east England make up the other new cases of the H1N1 virus, HPA said.

The London cases involve one returning traveler and one linked to a previously confirmed case.

The school spokesman said it's a balance between minimizing the risk of a spread on the one hand -- which is the national interest-- with this all-important time for boys.

Boys taking public examinations at the school are being allowed to return to do so under controlled conditions.

Eton College was founded by King Henry VI nearly 570 years ago. It has 18 British prime ministers, including the Duke of Wellington, Horace Walpole and Harold MacMillan, among its former pupils.

Worldwide there have been 95 deaths reported from the H1N1 flu and an estimated 13,450 cases.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)