THE Prince of Wales is in the region today visiting St John's College at Durham University and Durham Cathedral before heading to Barnard Castle.

In spite of the cold, hundreds of people had gathered to meet the next in line to the throne at Palace Green.

Dozens of flag-bearing pupils from the Chorister School lined the path to Durham Cathedral, where the future king had a guided tour of Open Treasure before attending a concert honouring Sir Hubert Parry, one of his favourite composers.

The prince's main duty of the day was to officially open Open Treasure, a £10m exhibition which has been one of the cathedral's major projects of recent years.

Guided by the Dean of Durham Andrew Tremlett, he had a tour of the exhibition, and treasures of St Cuthbert, which includes his Anglo-Saxon coffin and famous pectoral cross.

He also had the chance to see the golden cope, which is worn by the Bishop of Durham at coronations. 

Prince Charles said: "I'm very glad indeed to have this all too brief opportunity to come and visit Durham Cathedral and this splendid city. I fell it's longer than I would have liked since I was last here.

"It has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the staff and volunteers who are involved and some of the students whose important studies I have disrupted."

Describing the exhibition as "marvellous", he added: "I've been so pleased to see this particular project and I'm so glad to be here to open it. I can imagine how much effort has gone into this to make sure this great treasure can be seen by all the people who visit here."

Dean Tremlett said: "Standing in this great hall, the former monks dormitory, which is one of the finest in the country, it's a fitting reminder of our heritage stretching back to Holy Island and Cuthbert, which we are privileged to be custodians of in our own day."

After viewing the shrine of St Cuthbert, the prince attended a concert along with 350 other invited guests.

At the start of the concert, which included a solo by Durham University chancellor Sir Thomas Allen, a one minute silence was held in memory of student Olivia Burt, who died outside a nightclub in the city last week.

University vice-chancellor Stuart Corbridge said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with Olivia's parents Paula and Nigel and everyone who knew Olivia, as so many did"

Music was performed by Durham University Orchestral Society, Durham University Choral Society and Chamber Choir, Choristers of Durham Cathedral and Durham County Youth Choir, and will feature in a concert next month to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Parry's death.

Alex Mackinder, a Classics student at Josephine Butler College, conducted the Durham University Symphony Orchestra in the Durham Cathedral concert and met The Prince afterwards.

He said: “The concert was a pretty extraordinary experience. To have such a prestigious audience member, and such a prestigious soloist, was pretty extraordinary. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for months, with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. It was really great.”

Prince Charles also had the chance to renew his acquaintance with Durham University music professor Jeremy Dibble, a world-leading authority on Sir Hubert Parry. The pair had previously worked on a documentary on the composer.

After emerging on Palace Green, he was met by a crowd of several hundred people, including at least on anti-monarchist protestor, and the County Durham Cadet Band and Bugles, who waited in the cold to catch a glimpse of the future king.

Eileen Langan, and her daughter Colleen, 18, from Manchester, made a trip to Durham specially to meet the prince. They had been in Newcastle for an music audition.

She said: "It's fantastic. It's the first time we've seen him. It's been a nice civilised event."

Roland Presho, from Durham, was there with his wife Jean. He said: "It was very pleasant. He shook our hands and said a few words."

Earlier in the day, he visited the Church of St Mary the Less, in South Bailey, and unveiled a plaque honouring his ancestor Dame Elizabeth Bowes at St John's College.

The Reverend Professor David Wilkinson, Principal of St John’s College, said: “It was a great pleasure to welcome Prince Charles to St John’s College and Cranmer Hall and we are deeply grateful that he took the time to honour the life and work of his ancestor Dame Elizabeth Bowes.

“Our staff and students enjoyed meeting and chatting with him greatly. His visit marks a proud day in the history of St John’s College.”

He also had a chance to visit the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Collection Gallery, which is housed at the university's Palace Green Library.

His Royal Highness is visiting Barnard Castle this afternoon, where he is scheduled to meet firefighters, police officers, ambulance staff and members of the mountain rescue service at the town’s Emergency Service Centre, which opened last year.

Having been once referred to as “Prince of the Dales”, it was no surprise that Prince Charles paid homage to the more rural parts of the county on his royal visit.

Following his engagements in Durham, Prince Charles made his way to Barnard Castle, where schoolchildren lined the streets and waved Union Jacks to welcome him back to Teesdale following his last visit in 2012.

The prince’s first engagement was officially opening the £4million emergency services hub, which is the first of its kind in the country.

A sea of blue lights and sirens from each of the services – fire, ambulance, police and mountain rescue - filled the station yard as Prince Charles arrived.

He was greeted by the High Sheriff of County Durham, Caroline Peacock and her consort Jonathan Peacock as well as Bishop Auckland’s MP Helen Goodman.

Representatives from each of the four services were also presented to the prince as well as the Durham Police and Crime Commissioner, Ron Hogg. 

The prince then took a tour of the state-of-the-art building, which became operational last year, before returning to the courtyard to inspect service vehicles from the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, Durham Police, the North East Ambulance Service and the Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team (TWSMRT).

The town’s mini police also got a chance to impress for royalty as Barnard Castle Police Inspector Kevin Tuck presented the children to Prince Charles as well as talking about rural policing.

Scott Bissett, of TWSMRT, was also one of the team that impressed Prince Charles by showing him their new control vehicle, which was recently launched as a vital aid to help rescue people in the harsh rural landscape.

Mr Bissett said the visit had been a huge success and demonstrated the strong team work all four services had.

He said: “It has taken quite a bit of preparation and the biggest thing is working with the other services but that’s what the whole quad is about and an event like this, culminating in a very unusual royal visit for us, just shows how well we can work together.”

He added: “As volunteers we felt very privileged that Charles came to do the official opening. He loves Teesdale, but to come and do this is great because even though the hub is the first of its kind in the country; it’s still not really something most people will know about.

“It’s not every day that you get to meet the future king of your country.”

In declaring the building officially open, Prince Charles unveiled a plaque.
The royal entourage then made its way to the neighbouring Bowes Museum – a place with a close link to the Royal Family as the Queen Mother’s ancestors, the Bowes-Lyons, built the museum.

Just last year, the Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra, visited the museum to mark its 125th anniversary and Prince Charles was no different in showing how fond he was of the connection.

The Prince was greeted by the Barnard Castle Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers, who braved the cold and snow to give him a warm welcome.

He then viewed the gallery dedicated to the museum’s founders, John and Josephine Bowes, as well as the ceramics gallery and picture gallery before watching a performance of the iconic silver swan automaton. 

While unveiling a plaque, Prince Charles remarked on his family's connection with the museum and praised everyone involved.

He said: "It has been a brief opportunity to visit the museum yet the long-standing connection with my family makes it even more special.

"I just wanted to offer my congratulations and warmest wishes to the museum and all who work here, and all the marvellous volunteers and all those who keep it going in a wonderful way.

"I wish many more years of success for this great museum in this remarkable part of the world."