Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, spent last Wednesday in Cambridge, on official business.

The Prince is no stranger to Cambridge, having graduated from Trinity College with a 2:2 in Anthropology, Archaeology and History in 1970.

However, this time he saw a different side of Cambridge after touching down by helicopter at Girton College, where a crowd of surprised students met them.

One student later commented on Facebook how Girton would “email us all, excitedly, when they’ve added a new book to the library… but not when the future King of England visits the college.”

Prince Charles and Camilla had to quickly move on, with both royals taking on full, albeit individual schedules, the future king speaking at an education seminar for the Prince’s Teaching Institute (PTI) at Madingley Hall.

In his speech to delegates, for the organisation that aims to help teachers rediscover their passion, he advocated some alternative methods. He stressed the importance of “teaching the whole person”, claiming that schools had neglected “the element of character” for too long.

He said that they should instead concentrate on “the key issue” of “how to raise self-esteem, self-worth and self-confidence”.

The Prince of Wales gave particular mention to one teacher who taught Latin and Greek, and had promised to explain the origins of the names of Harry Potter spells to them.

Meanwhile, his wife paid two visits, the first being to the Cambridge Welcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at Addenbroke’s.

At the hospital, the Duchess was conducted into the area in which the Juvenile Diabetics Research Foundation (JDRF) conduct trials on young people with type 1 diabetes.

Here she met the star of the recent film, War Horse, 21 year-old Jeremy Irvine, from Gamlingay.

The actor was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 6 and had to endure up to eight injections per day, just to keep his blood sugar levels intact, until being fitted with an insulin pump at the age of 14.

Camilla praised his recent performance in War Horse, saying “I loved it and cried from beginning to end”.

This prompted the admission from Irvine that without the research of JDRF into insulin pumps, he would not have been able to enjoy such a career.

The Duchess then went onto the Emmaus Cambridge Community, a charity for the homeless of which she is royal patron.