THE Princess Royal was yesterday subjected to the kind of security checks that are usually reserved for the region's hardest criminals.

In a clear break with etiquette, Princess Anne could barely disguise her surprise as a female officer carried out a body sweep, with a hand-held metal detector, as the royal visitor arrived at the gates of Durham Prison.

She was also made to walk through an x-ray machine and even saw her expensive handbag being swallowed by an airport-style baggage handling device.

Officers at the security barrier at the entrance to the prison, which was built in the 19th century, said that everyone had to obey strict security procedures - whether they were princesses or paupers.

A guard said: "She was surprised she had to put her bag through the machine."

The senior royal was visiting HMP Durham in her role as patron of the Butler Trust, which develops care for prisoners and helps them improve their job opportunities when they are released.

The princess met Butler Trust award winners, including two officers who established a jobs club at Durham.

Officer Graeme Wainwright, 38, said: "Prisoners are perceived as the lowest of the low, and they think they are never going to get a job. The jobs club helps them overcome this and gives them the confidence to find work when they get out."

On a later visit to Low Newton Women's Prison, also in Durham, she chatted to inmates who were answering calls in the prison's mock call centre - a project that is designed to give those in prison the chance to retrain and gain City and Guild call centre qualifications.

Vikki, who is on the course, said she had a conversation with the princess on the intricacies of the Data Protection Act - an exchange brought about when the royal asked what happened when more than one number listing came up.

Another inmate getting to grips with the telephone technology, Helen, said that the princess had been impressed when she said she had recently earned a Royal Society of Arts qualification.

"When I told her I'd passed this word processing exam she said, 'oh, well done'."

Her schedule, half-an-hour wide of military precision, also saw her squeeze in a whistle-top tour of the prison's hairdressing salon.

She finished the day with a tour of DGC Distribution, a Spennymoor company that won the national final of the UK online for Business/InterForum E-Commerce Awards in July last year