November 2013

The Duke of Cambridge Visits University College Birmingham

Share post:

Read time: approx 1 mins

The Duke of Cambridge visited University College Birmingham today to speak to students – and be presented with a surprise cake and sugar-crafted Aston Villa kit for his son, Prince George.

Prince William was in Birmingham for a day of official engagements, including a visit to the newly-opened Library of Birmingham.

He took time out from his busy schedule to make a private visit to UCB, where he chatted to students over lunch in the Atrium restaurant.

After the buffet lunch, Prince William was presented with a special “toybox” cake made by Dawn Gemmell, assistant head of UCB’s College of Food and head of bakery.

The cake was presented by 17-year-old Lauren Kendall, a level 2 bakery student, and Caroline Lane, president of the Student Union.

It is a great pleasure that Prince William has decided to visit UCB and is interested in talking to our students. A huge spectrum of courses are available at UCB, ensuring the variety of students, from further education to higher education students, culminates in a very diverse community of students. UCB is a unique university, where students get to know all their lecturers and tutors really well, creating an outstanding learning environment.

Caroline, UCB graduate in Culinary Arts Management

Lauren Kendall represented bakery students at the lunch and cake presentation.

She was only informed of her official duties the day before. Lauren said: “I knew I was going to be involved in some way but I didn’t know until yesterday that it was Prince William coming to UCB. It was really exciting, overwhelming.”

It was an honour to welcome Prince William to the university and our students were thrilled to meet him. We heard that Prince William likes cakes and we were delighted to make a celebration cake for him to show to his son, Prince George.

Prof Ray Linforth, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of University College Birmingham