Edward meets with DofE gold award holders

The Duke of Edinburgh paid tribute to his late father as he met gold award winners from Prince Philip’s personal challenge programme for the first time since becoming the charity’s patron.

Edward became patron of the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) awards, set up by his father, in March.

He described his new role at the charity as “a huge, huge honour”.

He said it is “a huge space to fill as well, given all the interests that my father had over many years and so many organisations that he supported – but this one was probably the closest to his heart”.

Edward was speaking to hundreds of gold award holders and their supporters, who were special guests at a celebration in the Buckingham Palace garden.

Edward, who completed the programme and received his gold award from his father in 1986, said: “It is a true honour to go on to try and encourage, enthuse and inspire young people, volunteers and leaders to continue to deliver this as long as there are young people out there who want to do it.”

Actor and comedian Jon Culshaw, television presenter Rav Wilding, athlete and presenter Ade Adepitan, property expert Kirstie Allsopp and journalist Alice Beer were also on hand with inspirational talks on careers and life skills.

Edward talked to the award holders and joined in some games in the garden.

The DofE awards are open to people from all walks of life aged 14 to 24 and aims to inspire them to develop skills, resilience and self-belief.

It aims to help them take on their own challenges, follow their passions, make a difference to their communities and discover talents they never knew they had.

Footballer-turned-TV presenter and silver DofE award holder Jermaine Jenas told those gathered: “The grit that enabled me to trade stadium lights for studio lights is in each and every one of you.

“It’s what kept you going when your friends were doing other things and you did not feel like showing up for your volunteering shift.

“When you were trudging through the rain on your expedition, you could have given up but didn’t.

“Outside of your comfort zone is where a gold DofE award is truly earned.

“The next time life throws you a curve ball you have already shown you have the resilience to do whatever you imagine.”

More than 9,000 youngsters will visit the palace this week during four special celebration events over two days to mark their achievements as part of the awards scheme.

There are 537,759 young people currently taking part in the scheme, including 323,676 starting their DofE in 2022-23.

They are carrying out 3.5 million hours of volunteering, equivalent to £17 million in paid working hours, the DofE said.

CELEBRATION: The Duke of Edinburgh during a game of ‘cornhole’ with Jermaine Jenas as he hosts young people from the DofE award scheme at Buckingham Palace.