DORSET welcomed a royal visitor as the Duke of Kent visited Lyme Regis and Bovington.

His royal highness and Lord Lieutenant for Dorset Angus Campbell enjoyed a tour of the Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy before visiting the town’s gig club and the RNLI station.

Lifeboat crew met the Duke of Kent – after Lyme Regis RNLI operations manager Grahame Forshaw showed off the station and lifeboat, The Spirit of Loch Fyne.

Mr Forshaw said: "He was very appreciative about the crew’s efforts in being lifeboat men. He was interested in the area, interested in the tourism trade and he’s aware of the main part of the core business in saving lives.

“As he said, this is one of the only lifeboat stations where there aren’t any professional seamen on the crew. It was nice to meet him again and he thanked us for all the hard work that the lads do.”

The Duke also visited the RNLI shop where volunteer Gwyneth Barker said: “He asked us what is the best selling item, and it is the plastic boats – we sell thousands of them in the summer.

The Duke visited the boat building academy after ex-student Gail McGarva last year received an MBE for services to heritage crafts and clinker boat building.

The Duke also officially unveiled the Tank Museum at Bovington’s new exhibition on the design and manufacture of armoured vehicles.

He toured the museum, before being joined by Mavis Jones, a tank factory worker during the Second World War, to officially unveil the displays featuring a line of Centurion tanks and their history since 1916.

The Duke, who is a patron of the museum, said: “I’ve been coming to Bovington for a number of years, as has anyone who has served with the Royal Armed Corps, and it has been wonderful to see the way that they have changed and developed it.

“The important part of this exhibition is the emphasis on the people who were making the tanks, who were very important. Mrs Jones is a wonderful example of someone who is responsible for helping to build these incredible machines."

Curator David Willey thanked the Duke for his visit and said that they continue to have very ambitious plans with thanks to the Heritage Lottery Funding.