William’s sign that he’s back on duty
Prince shows sign language skills at palace as he honours interpreter
THE Duke of Cambridge displayed his sign language ability as he headed back to work yesterday following the ‘Sandringham summit’ over Harry and Meghan.
In a heart-warming moment at an investiture ceremony, William signed ‘Congratulations, Alex’ as he presented an MBE to an interpreter who has devoted his life to helping communication with deaf people.
Alex Duguid, 76, has for decades been the face for deaf audiences of popular TV shows including soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street as a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
It came as the Duchess of Cornwall awarded an honorary degree to her sister-in-law, the Princess Royal, in Aberdeen for a lifetime of charity work.
At the event at Buckingham Palace, a video posted on William’s Twitter and Instagram pages showed the prince using BSL to congratulate Mr Duguid.
A smiling Mr Duguid then replied ‘Thank you’ in sign language and gave a thumbs-up sign.
Mr Duguid, from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, lost his hearing aged just three when he tripped and fell, fracturing his cheekbones.
It resulted in total deafness in one ear and severe hearing loss in the other. He was awarded his MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last year for services to deaf people and British Sign Language education.
A message accompanying the video on William’s official Kensington Royal Instagram page yesterday described Mr Duguid as ‘ an example of how profoundly deaf people can have an impact on their community, their peers and their country’.
It added that Mr Duguid was ‘passionate about BSL and the
‘No talk of rivalry’
need to protect it’ and had spent the past 30 years ‘giving up his time raising hundreds of thousands of pounds towards community projects’.
It was William’s first day back on royal duty since the crisis talks over the future of the Sussexes, held at the Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk on Monday. William, 37, looked deep in thought as he returned to London after the 90-minute meeting, also attended by Harry, the Queen, Prince Charles and their most senior aides. Yesterday the second-inline awarded accolades to former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss, who picked up a knighthood, and former FA vice- chairman David Gill, who collected a CBE for services to football.
The Duke voiced his concerns about his beloved football team, Aston Villa – who are in the Premier League relegation zone – while he chatted with Mr Gill.
Speaking after he collected his award, the former Manchester United chief executive said: ‘I’ve been lucky enough to meet [William] a few times and talk about football. He was more worried about Aston Villa and how they’re going to finish this season.
‘We had a nice chat about football, he’s a keen follower of it.’
Rapper and singer M.I.A also collected an MBE for services to music, only a day after she told activists that showing support for jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was ‘just as important’ as receiving her honour.
In Scotland, Anne – who is involved with 300 charities in the UK and overseas, including serving as patron of Save the Children – received a Doctor of Laws at Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Hall.
Camilla, the university’s chancellor, joked that there would be ‘no talk of rivalry’ as she presented the honour to Anne, who is chancellor of the University of Edinburgh.