And while the Gold Award holders were celebrating a remarkable achievement, 35 form three and four students at Concord College were also completing their bronze awards in the countryside.

Paulette Onkonkwo, 17, Anders Wong, 18, Aimee Hudson, 18 and Aryan Sagdeo, 18 collected their awards at the palace alongside alumni, Anna Zhang, Wenxiu Huang, Eben Jones and Penri Jones, who completed their DofE and expedition a while ago, but have been waiting for Gold Award presentations to resume after Covid to receive their awards.

Their final expedition was last summer in Scotland, canoeing Loch Shiel where they also camped.

Concord teachers Andrew Weaver and Ruth Newton-Badman accompanied the current students to the Palace where they shared in their celebrations at a garden party in the Palace grounds.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, spoke from the terrace, describing some of his experiences when he completed the award in his youth. Afterwards he mingled with the award holders to hear some of their stories.