Royal Visitors

After visiting the Guildhall and meeting members of the public in Market Square, the Duke and Duchess were welcomed to the Senate House by the Chancellor, Lord Sainsbury, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz and the Registrary, Dr Jonathan Nicholls.

In the Senate House, where the Duke’s grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh presided over Honorary Degree congregations as Chancellor for thirty-five years, the University Orator, Dr Rupert Thompson, gave the Duke and Duchess a brief introduction to the University’s history.

The Royal couple then joined more than 400 students and Heads of House from all 31 Cambridge Colleges, as well as long-serving University assistant staff and postdoctoral researchers, and spent more than half an hour talking with them.

The visit concluded with speeches by the Chancellor and by the Duke, in which he spoke of the immense pride that he and his wife felt at being associated with Cambridge, “a place renowned the world over for its dynamism, beauty and learning.”

The Duke paid tribute to the work of the University, saying its academic record down the centuries left them both feeling "very humble".  He noted the contributions of Cambridge scientists to the understanding of gravity and DNA, and remarked that  "many of the brilliant minds who, through their later work at Bletchley Park, did so much to save our country and the free world, were given first flowering to their genius here at Cambridge."

Earlier the Chancellor had said in his welcoming speech: “Your Royal Highnesses, I am proud to be an alumnus of the University that counts The Prince of Wales and the Earl of Wessex among its alumni; and to be Chancellor of the University where The Duke of Edinburgh was Chancellor.

“We are proud to welcome you to the University of Cambridge on the first of, we hope, many visits (for there is much to see!), but we are proudest of all to show off to you the people who in their daily lives make this university a creative contributor to a thriving, buoyant and thrilling city.”

Following the morning visit the Vice-Chancellor said: “The City and University of Cambridge put on a great show to welcome the Duke and Duchess.  For us it was a chance to show off our brilliant students, along with the long-serving assistant staff who keep this place among the best in the world, and the postdocs in every subject who are the research leaders of the next generation."