PREPARATIONS are today under way for a visit by Prince Andrew to the Royal Hospital School at Holbrook.The Duke of York is due to visit the boarding and day school tomorrow to open the first phase of a multimillion pound refurbishment programme.

PREPARATIONS are today under way for a visit by Prince Andrew to the Royal Hospital School at Holbrook.

The Duke of York is due to visit the boarding and day school tomorrow to open the first phase of a multimillion pound refurbishment programme.

He will also present the school with a new Queen's Colour, to replace the existing one presented to the school in 1968 by his grandmother, the Queen Mother.

Prince Andrew will be welcomed to the school by the Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk David Sheepshanks and its headmaster Howard Blackett.

He will unveil a plaque to Anson House, a boy's boarding house which has undergone a £1.5million refurbishment and is the first of ten houses at the school to be renovated.

Mr Blackett said: “I am delighted that HRH The Duke of York will be able to open Anson House - this completes the first phase of our £18million five-year refurbishment programme of the school.

“The quality of the new accommodation in the refurbished house is absolutely superb. I know we will soon be the envy of many a boarding school.”

Meanwhile The Duke of Gloucester was due to pay a visit to Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury today.

Among the local attractions playing host to the Duke were Gainsborough's House in Sudbury, which has undergone major renovations, and the Gainsborough Silk Weaving Company, also in Sudbury.

In Bury, the Duke was due to visit Culford School to mark the school's 125th anniversary and Age Concern Suffolk's Oasis day care and active age centre at Suffolk Business Park.