It’s been only a matter of months since Prince Edward was bestowed the title of Duke of Edinburgh by his elder brother, King Charles III. Now, for the first time with his new title, the Duke has honoured winners of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme (DofE).
Around 2,200 Gold Award holders were guests of honour at Buckingham Palace for the first of four special events to mark their achievements.
The celebrations recognise about 9,000 young people who have shown resilience, perseverance, and creativity to complete their Gold DofE awards. These winners have done this through opportunities at schools, community organisations, youth groups, and workplaces across the nation.
During the event, The Duke congratulated attendees and met with award winners who shared the positive impact their DofE had on them.
Ffion Davies, a 19-year-old from Tredegar in Wales said: “Nine-year-old me, who could hardly read or write due to my dyslexia, would never have believed I’d be standing here today, doing this speech. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you never know how experiences like the DofE will alter your way of thinking and develop you as a person.
“I am grateful for the lessons I have learnt while completing my Gold DofE. It has not only made me more confident as a person, it has enabled me to trust my capabilities.”
The Duke of Edinburgh Award charity recently announced record-breaking participation numbers with more than 530,000 taking part in the 2022 – 2023 DofE campaign. More than 323,000 started their award and in total – participants contributed more than 3.5 million hours of volunteering. To break that down into paid working hours, it’s equivalent to £17 million.
The Duke received his own Gold Award in 1986 from his father, Prince Philip. The award is part of a non-competitive personal challenge. Open to all young people, it takes a minimum of 12 months to complete. People are challenged to build their own programmes with activities in five sections -physical skills, volunteering, a 5-day residential, and 4-day expedition.
