THE Prince of Wales will visit a new school, a business and a retirement community in Poundbury today.

Charles will visit Damers First School today to meet staff, students and parents and find out about their community and sustainability programmes.

During his visit he has announced that he is "thrilled" and "very happy indeed" for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their engagement.

Damers School, which moved to a new, purpose-built site in the village in April 2017 already holds the Eco-Schools' Green Flag award and is working towards being admitted into the global environmental schools programme's hall of fame.

Charles will then visit Loop Technology, a family-run business which was based in Dorchester after it opened in 1998 but moved to premises in Poundbury in August 2016.

The company, which employs 30 people, uses augmented reality and 3D scanning to programme robotics for the international market, particularly in the aerospace, automotive and renewable energy industries.

During the visit, Charles will learn about two different projects in development - FibreEYE, a 3D scanner which can identify faults in material used for aerospace engineering and Hololens, which uses virtual reality to programme robots.

He will then meet residents and staff at Bowes Lyon Court, a retirement community that has 62 one and two-bed apartments for the over 70s.

The properties are owned independently but residents are also provided with additional care and support by a qualified team on site 24 hours a day.

Poundbury, which is built on Duchy of Cornwall land, is home to around 3,000 people.

Charles' model village is a mix of shops, cottages, town houses and businesses built reflecting his passion for classical architecture.

Work began on the project in 1993 and the idea was to create an urban quarter of Dorchester which gave priority to people, rather than cars, and where commercial buildings were mixed with residential areas, shops and leisure facilities to create a walkable community.