THE Duke of York visited Kings Langley's landmark wind turbine yesterday (Thursday).

Prince Andrew was invited to tour the headquarters of Renewable Energy Systems (RES), in Egg Farm Lane, after meeting CEO Dr Ian Mays at Buckingham Palace in 2005.

And on the day it was announced that Prince Harry's Army regiment would be sent to Iraq, the former Navy helicopter pilot - who himself served in the Falklands conflict - drove himself along the M25 to see state-of-the-art renewable energy technologies based at RES' Beaufort Court.

The Prince displayed a wide knowledge of renewable energy and thanked his hosts for answering "a huge number of boring and difficult questions very succinctly".

He said: "There's a huge amount of work going on to create clean, green energy. I wish you much success in everything you do."

Dr Ian Mays, CEO of the RES Group, said: "We're doing our very best to address the challenge of climate change and secure future energy solutions.

"It's a great honour to have him come to see us as a company but also pleasing that he's taking an active interest in renewable energy. That's our business.

"I expected him to be asking lots of questions. When I went to the Palace, I was chatting to him and he was taking an interest in energy.

"He was surprised at the pressure from local authorities to put renewable energy into homes and he said he was doing what he could."

Full story in today's Watford Observer