Camilla presents universities and colleges with excellence awards

The Queen has praised cancer specialists for their efforts as universities and colleges were honoured with a prestigious award.

Camilla and the Duchess of Gloucester hosted a Buckingham Palace presentation ceremony for the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education, the day after the King was pictured meeting the Prime Minister.

Centres of learning from across the country were recognised with awards, including the Institute of Cancer Research in London for its pioneering work on breast cancer.

Camilla thanked its winning team, saying: “what would we do without you”?

The King was filmed for the first time carrying out his official duties since his shock cancer diagnosis when he was pictured on Wednesday holding his weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Charles revealed he has been reduced to tears by the messages and cards of support he has received since his cancer diagnosis, with Mr Sunak telling him the “country is behind you”.

After the award ceremony, the Queen was affectionately dubbed a “local girl” by Plumpton College, a wine industry training institution that has a long association with Camilla, who grew up near to it in Sussex.

Her father, Major Bruce Shand, was a wine merchant and passed on his love of the grape to his daughter, known to favour a glass of red.

They lived in Plumpton village and Camilla went to school in nearby Ditchling.

Jeremy Kerswell, Plumpton College principal and chief executive, received a Queen’s Anniversary Prize on behalf of his institution which has trained many of the nation’s wine industry experts for decades.

He said: “It means so much, our award was in recognition of all the work the college has done over a number of years which has impacted the growth and success of the wine industry.

“When I got up onto the stage she said ‘I am so pleased to see Plumpton here’, and she talked about wanting to come and visit and see the college and did make the point ‘your wine is also very good, isn’t it?’

“She is also the patron of our charity because she is a local girl – Plumpton College Charitable Foundation.

“It’s our centenary in two years, so I did just say ‘why don’t you visit next year and bring your hubby for our centenary’? and she said ‘I’ll definitely go back to the diary’.”

The awards recognise excellence, innovation and well-evidenced benefits for education, the economy and the wider world and this year’s recipients ranged from the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Robert Burns Studies to Loughborough College’s world-class space engineering programme.

This year’s winners will each nominate two colleagues to join a working party tasked with tackling the “Coronation Challenge”, a year-long initiative focused on using emerging technologies and the creative industries to “turbo charge” innovation.

The group’s recommendations will be sent to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and it is hoped the government of the day will implement them.