THE Duke of York gave two new colleges top marks when he officially opened the multi-million pound campuses on Teesside yesterday.

Prince Andrew unveiled plaques at Middlesbrough College and Redcar and Cleveland College where he praised both campuses for their “outstanding” facilities.

The fourth in line to the throne was limping as he toured the £68m Middlesbrough complex on the regenerated Middlehaven site.

He was shown the Hazel Pearson Theatre where he met performing arts students before being taken to the purpose-built gymnastics area where he watched a display by World Special Olympic Games medallists Caroline Jennison, John Hutchinson and Nick Walton.

He said: “This is a quite outstanding facility for education.

This opportunity that I have had today to see a small part of what goes on has been fantastic.”

After eating lunch prepared by students in the Haven Restaurant he was driven to the new £26m Redcar and Cleveland College where he visited its engineering workshops.