[7] The Malay College Kuala Kangsar was awarded the Cluster School of Excellence title by the Ministry of Education (Malaysia).

As an institution under the royal patronage of Conference of Rulers, the school receives royal visits from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, King of Malaysia every five years and every year from the Sultan of Perak as school's board chairman.

The school specialises in rugby, basketball, hockey, debate, robotics and most prominently, leadership.

[10] The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) is the first fully residential school in Malaysia.

However, during Tun Abdul Razak Hussein's tenure as Minister of Education in 1947, as a result of rising Malay nationalism, he democratised the intake.

The MCKK samping designed and woven in Terengganu consisting of black, yellow and red (with resultant overlapping colours) was introduced in 1939 to be worn with white Baju Melayu and black songkok was made the optional Malay uniform.

He was the same Headmaster who personally raised the UMNO flag on Federation Day, 01/02/1948, when the MCKK boys assembled to celebrate the demise of the Malayan Union and to sing the "new Malay National Anthem" as described by Hashim Sam Latiff.

In October 1989, the Queen, Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited the school.

[17] In 2004, the college was placed under purview of the rulers with then Crown Prince of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah appointed as board chairman.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia attended the event, along with the royal rulers of the states of Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan as well as the governor of Malacca.

The administrative block (New School) was opened by High Commissioner for the Federation of Malaya, Donald MacGillivray, in 1955.

Another prominent feature of the school is the Big Tree, a rain tree (Samanea saman) in front of the East Wing that is said to be as old as the original Big School itself.The college ground is the only place in Asia where an Eton Fives court is found.

Since a trip in August 2014 by two top English players the game's popularity has grown and more students are now playing again.

[citation needed] Traditionally, it has held match series against the Vajiravudh College of Thailand since 1960.

[citation needed] In addition to this, MCKK competes with its prominent rivals every year in a multi-games carnival.

Notably, the most prominent rival is Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh, which is one of the oldest Malay boarding school in Perak along with the MCKK.

The shield is divided per cross, from dexter: white (argent) in the first quarter, red (gules) in the second, black (sable) in the third and yellow (or) in the fourth.

The colours represent the four houses into which the students are grouped: Idris (white), Sulaiman (red), Mohd Shah (yellow) and Ahmad (black).

To this date, seven Yang di-Pertuan Agong out of seventeen that have ascended the throne were its alumni (including a Lord President of the Supreme Court) and a Sultan of Brunei.

The college's Old Boys also showed their presence in economy, education, law, armed forces and art.

[29] The novelist and composer Anthony Burgess (1917–93), author of The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy, was a master at MCKK.

A thinly veiled account of his time at Kuala Kangsar, it so cruelly caricatured Howell and his colleagues that, as Burgess recalled in his autobiography, some of those who deemed themselves traduced 'sought advice about libel' from a local lawyer.