Prince William dusted off his royal meet-and-greet skills ahead of his official visits to New Zealand and Australia as he undertook four royal duties in London and Lincoln.
On January 7th Prince William delivered a speech to mark Tusk Trust's 20th anniversary. William praised the charity's efforts to conserve wildlife in Africa through education and community development. Prince William first became aware of the charity during a visit in 2000 to the Kenyan farm of his friend Jecca Craig. He became the charity's royal patron five years later.
Following an invitation from his Aunt Lady Sarah McCorquodale, who is the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, William braved the icy weather to make three royal engagements in Lincoln on the 11th. William, who is training to become an RAF Search and Rescue pilot, toured the Royal Air Force Coningsby base and spoke to the maintenance team of the bases Typhoon jets. He also met personnel's children at the base's Gym Tots playgroup on the base.
However the engagements that really captured headlines were his visits to Eresby Special School and the St. Barnabas Hospice Day Center.
William was on hand to officially open Eresby's Life Skills Center and was given a very warm welcome by 9-year old student Darren Peart who hopped up on the prince's lap for a hug. The school teaches special needs students aged 2 to 19. William spent an hour at the school meeting teachers and students and taste-testing the results of a baking class. Head teacher Mrs Holiday, who knew about William's upcoming visit since November reviled that it was hard to keep the prince’s visit a secret.
"We couldn't tell anybody – staff or pupils until – until last Tuesday when we came back from the holidays. At first they all thought I was joking and then everybody was excited.
"There was great excitement in the school. It was a brilliant day and Prince William was genuinely interested in what everybody was doing. He was a very genuine, gentle person and he was quite at ease with everyone
"We are all trying to come down off that bubble now."
William also visited patients and staff at the St. Barnabas Hospice Day Center where his mother made a visit in 1992. The day center provides care, therapies and activities for the terminally ill. It also offers counseling for relatives of the terminal ill. Excited staff said they’d been practicing royal etiquette in preparation for William's visit.
Siblings Bradley and Kelly McKelvey, whose mother had been a patient at the hospice, met the prince and said he was easy to talk to. Said Bradley, "I was really nervous, but he was easy to speak to and really nice. I spoke about what I liked to do, and he asked me if I liked football. I don't think my mates will believe me when I tell them."
Said Kelly, "It was a great honour to meet Prince William. Not many people can say they have met him, can they? He asked us why we came to St Barnabas and whether the people were nice to us."
While observing an art class William spoke to 59-year-old patient Jane Wood. Said Jane, "It was very good. He said I was artistic but I said that I wasn't. He seemed very interested in our art. He's just an ordinary guy, isn't he?"
Said hospice chairman Bob Neilans, "Our patients were very excited about today's visit when we were able to tell them officially about it. The weather seems to have held off. It would have been extremely disappointing if it had been unsafe for our patients to come in today but when we checked the forecast last night it said it was going to be good."
Click here to discuss William's visit to Lincoln
Click here to discuss William at the Tusk Trust event