The Duke of Kent has spent his 83rd birthday out and about in Durham as he conducted a variety of engagements.
Prince Edward, who is The Queen’s first cousin, turned 83-years-old on Tuesday, but instead of putting his feet up and relaxing, the dedicated royal visited a college, a police conference and a former Catholic seminary.
In the morning, the Duke visited Durham Constabulary’s Problem Oriented Policing Conference which was being held at The Durham Centre.
This conference discusses problem-oriented policing in the community which sees police officers identify specific crime and disorder problems and tackle them through bespoke strategies.
The approach requires the police to be proactive in identifying problems. These are then tackled to combat crime at the root causes.
Later on in the day, the 83-year-old Duke travelled to Ushaw College – a former Catholic seminary located in Country Durham.
Ushaw College was founded in 1808 by scholars from the English College in Douai who had fled France following the French Revolution.
They continued to train priests until 2011 when the site was taken over and are now maintained by a charitable trust.
The Duke’s visit coincided with the 450th-anniversary of the English College foundation in 1568.
To mark his visit, Prince Edward planted an oak tree in the grounds of Ushaw as guests watched on.
Finally, the Duke visited the United Technical College in Newton Aycliffe where he officially opened the school’s new mechatronics laboratory.
At the college, Prince Edwards watched students work in the new lab, and also spoke to them about their future careers.
UTC South Durham is a state-funded technical school for 14-19-year-olds which opened in September 2016.
According to their website, the school’s focus is to “help young people get ready for the world of work and find meaningful careers.”
