Duke praises £300m centre for wounded servicemen

THE DUKE of Cambridge has hailed a new £300million rehabilitation centre for wounded members of the Armed Forces, as he attended the official handover presenting it to the nation.

The Duke, who is patron of the funding appeal to establish the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, attended the event along with 300 supporters, staff and dignitaries.

The centre has been purpose-built at the Stanford Hall Estate, Notts, where it will provide world-class rehabilitation facilities for service personnel who have suffered major trauma or injury.

Its rehabilitation services are being transferred from Headley Court, Surrey, which has treated service personnel for more than 70 years: most recently many of those veterans badly wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The centre was the idea of Gerald Grosvenor, the late 6th Duke of Westminster, who led the £300million fundraising drive with a personal gift of £70million.

Following the duke’s death in 2016, his son, Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, carried out the duty of handing over the centre as a gift to the nation during the ceremony, with Prime Minister Theresa May accepting it on the UK’S behalf. She called it “an extraordinary gift” and spoke of Stanford Hall Estate providing “the next generation of rehabilitative care”.

The Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to the fundraising and support that made the centre a reality, addressing a crowd that included the Crown Prince of Bahrain, General Sir Nicholas Carter, the chief of the defence staff, and Dan Snow, the historian.

“I have seen the growth of an idea transfer into what we see today, and it is a rare and immensely satisfying thing to have witnessed,” he said.

Reflecting on those who would benefit from the centre’s treatment, the Duke said: “At every stage, I have been inspired by people who have triumphed in adversity after some very serious wounding.”

The Duke then read the winning entry of the A Poem to Remember national competition, One For The Team, penned by Debbie Lawson, an A&E nurse.

The Duke of Cambridge spoke at the event as the DNRC was handed to Theresa May on behalf of the nation