We watched a movie (which I guess was based on a book) when I was in 5th grade. It was about how in middle-England (Renaissance?) there would be a court whipping boy who would take the prince's punishments for him. The whole thing seemed ridiculous to me at the time, but was it an actual thing that happened?
William Murray was the whipping boy for a young King Charles I of England. He was from a noble family and as an adult, he became a royal adviser and Earl of Dysart.
Henry VIII's son Edward (who became King Edward VI for an exceedingly short period of time before his early death) had a whipping boy named Barnaby Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick and Edward were said to have been close friends, and as an adult Fitzpatrick became 2nd Baron Upper Ossory.
So, yes, whipping boys did exist and were used. They were generally of noble birth, and educated alongside the royal scion.