Queen Camilla praises cancer specialists amid her husband’s battle with the disease as she’s joined by the Duchess of Gloucester to present the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes at Buckingham Palace

The Queen has praised cancer specialists for their efforts amid her husband’s battle with the disease, as universities and colleges were honored with a prestigious award at Buckingham Palace today.

Camilla, 76, and the Duchess of Gloucester, 77, hosted the presentation ceremony for the Queen’s Anniversary Awards for Higher and Further Education, the day after the King, 75, was pictured meeting face to face with the Prime Minister.

Learning centers across the UK were recognized with awards, including the Institute of Cancer Research London for its pioneering work on breast cancer. Thanking the winning team, Camilla said: “What would we do without you?”

The Queen She wore an elegant green dress to the awards ceremony in the British capital, which is held once every two years. In 2020, royals supported the King, then Prince of Wales, on the occasion.

But this time, the Queen led the show, with the Duchess of Gloucester, dressed in a sophisticated blue ensemble, at her side.

It comes after the King met face-to-face with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday at Buckingham Palace for the first time since the monarch’s cancer diagnosis.

Charles revealed that the messages and cards of support he has received since his cancer diagnosis brought him to tears, with Sunak telling him “the country is behind you”.

After the awards ceremony, Plumpton College, a wine industry training institution which has a long association with Camilla, who grew up near her in Sussex, affectionately dubbed the Queen a “local girl”.

Her father, Major Bruce Shand, was a wine merchant and passed on his love of the grape to his daughter, who was known to prefer a glass of red.

They lived in the village of Plumpton and Camilla went to school in nearby Ditchling.

Jeremy Kerswell, principal and chief executive of Plumpton College, received the Queen’s Anniversary Award on behalf of his institution, which has trained many of the country’s wine industry experts over decades.

He said: “It means a lot, our award was a recognition of all the work the university has done over a number of years which has impacted the growth and success of the wine industry.”

“When I went on stage she said, ‘I’m really glad to see Plumpton here,’ and she talked about wanting to come visit and see the university and pointed out, ‘your wine is really good too, isn’t it?’

‘She is also the patron of our charity because she is a local girl – Plumpton College Charitable Foundation.

“It’s our centenary in two years, so I just said, ‘why don’t you come next year and bring your husband for our centenary,’ and she said, ‘I’ll definitely come back to the paper.’

The awards recognize excellence, innovation and well-demonstrated benefits to education, the economy and the wider world and this year’s winners range from the Robert Burns Studies Center at the University of Glasgow to the space engineering program at world class from Loughborough College.

Each of this year’s winners will nominate two colleagues to join a working group tasked with tackling the ‘Coronation Challenge’, a year-long initiative focused on the use of emerging technologies and the creative industries to ‘ accelerate’ innovation.

The group’s recommendations will be sent to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and are expected to be implemented by the government of the day.