The Duke of Cambridge was all smiles at Buckingham Palace today as he honoured stars of sport, politics and television at a special investiture ceremony.
William skilfully cast aside the stresses of a tough week which saw him accused of “bullying” his younger brother Harry and rushing to Sandringham for crisis family talks.
In a particularly touching moment at today’s red carpet event, the father-of-three showed off his sign language skills as he awarded an MBE to TV interpreter Alex Duguid.
Mr Duguid has spent the past three decades helping broadcasters communicate with deaf audiences, becoming the British Sign Language (BSL) face of ITV’s Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
Today, the second in line to the throne spelt out “congratulations, Alex” with slow and steady BSL finger gestures.
The TV star looked delighted as he received his insignia for services to deaf people and BSL education, fingerspelling “thank you” in response.
The royal presentation also saw the duke knighting Theresa May's Brexit negotiator Oliver Robbins and former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss.
He was also spotted sharing a joke as he gave gongs to rapper MIA, Scottish composer Anna Meredith and BBC golf expert Ken Brown.
Around 30 investitures are held each year, with more than sixty recipients attending each ceremony.
The honours range from MBEs, OBEs and knighthoods, to Orders of Chivalry and Orders of Merit.
Today's recipients included actor Griffith Rhys Jones, veteran foster carers William Foster, 82, and Margaret Foster, 74, and FA vice-chairman David Gill.
The duke voiced his concern for his beloved football team, Aston Villa, to Mr Gill after presenting him with his CBE for services to the sport.
The former Manchester United chief executive said: “I’ve been lucky enough to meet (William) a few times and talk about football, he was more worried about Aston Villa and how they’re going to finish this season.
“We had a nice chat about football, he’s a keen follower of it.”
Meanwhile in Scotland, another special accolade was handed out, this time to the Princess Royal.
Anne, who is involved with 300 charities in the UK and overseas, was awarded an honorary degree for her lifetime of service.
Her sister-in-law Camilla presented her with the honour – a Doctor of Laws – at the University of Aberdeen's Elphinstone Hall on Tuesday.
The Queen's only daughter undertook her first public engagement at the age of 18 and since then has taken on one of the busiest working schedules of any member of the royal family.
