THE Duke of Edinburgh has made a happy return to his former school – exactly 80 years after he left.

The Duke visited Cheam School, in Headley, last Friday, to open the new £3.5million art, design and technology department.

Prince Philip was a pupil at the prestigious school more than eight decades ago, and his son, Prince Charles, also attended the preparatory school.

The 92-year-old took a tour of his former school after being greeted by Hampshire Lord-Lieutenant Dame Mary Fagan and headmaster Mark Johnson. Deputy Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane Councillor Roger Gardiner and his wife Tricia were also among the welcoming party.

Prince Philip, who is a patron of the Cheam School Association, took a tour of the school. He visited the Mallinson Room – Cheam School’s own museum – and met up with a fellow former pupil, World War II Spitfire pilot Jimmy Taylor, who was at the school with Prince Philip in 1933.

The royal VIP opened the new department, named the Duke of Edinburgh Building, in the presence of staff, pupils and parents who supported the successful £1million appeal to raise the money for the project.

Headmaster Mr Johnson said: “It was a great honour to have one of our more illustrious former pupils with us to open the Duke of Edinburgh Building. It was a magical day for all concerned.”

Cheam School was founded in 1645 in Cheam, Surrey, and moved to its present site in 1934, just after Prince Philip left.

Based in nearly 100 acres of countryside, the school offers boarding and day education for boys and girls between the ages of three and 13.

Other former pupils at the school include the rower William Fletcher, Lord Randolph Churchill – father of Winston Churchill – and footballer and banker Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird.