Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr Terence Kealey, met the Duke along with the deans of the business school and members of the students' union committee.

The Duke also visited the university's Hunter Street Library and the Clore Laboratory where he met the Dean of Science, Professor Mike Cawthorne, and was given a demonstration on bioinformatics, which looks at the application of computer science on DNA sequencing.

Dr Kealey said: "He was delightful, and a terribly nice man. He was intrigued to see that one of our halls of residence, Hailsham House, had been opened in 1985 by his wife, which made him smile.

"Due to his interest in computer science and information technology we went to the Clore Laboratory together and gave him a presentation on the application of computer science on new drugs, which he was very interested in."

The Duke of Kent was also presented with a signed copy of Dr Kealey's book, Sex, Science and Profits: How People Evolved to Make Money.