HIS Royal Highness Prince Charles was greeted by crowds in Gwent today as he attended a window dedication and officially opened a food factory.

The Prince of Wales visited St Mary's Priory Church in Abergavenny to attend a special service for the dedication of the Jesse window in memory of Dean Jeremy Winston. The heir to the British throne announced earlier this week that he would continue to be a patron of The St Mary’s Priory Development Trust.

This was his third visit to the church and he was welcomed by children from Cantref and Deri View primary schools along with dignitaries including David Davies MP and Nick Ramsay AM. Canon Mark Soady introduced the service to celebrate the new window in memory of Dean Winston who died four years ago. Fr Jeremy served as Vicar of Abergavenny for 18 years and was Dean of Newport Cathedral. He died two months after being installed as Dean of Monmouth.

Canon Soady said: "The fact that the window is so beautiful made the day really. HRH Prince Charles was bowled over with it as well."

The Bishop of Monmouth led the dedication of the window in front of Prince Charles in the Lewis Chapel where he sprinkled the window with holy water as part of the ceremony.

Bishop Pain who was a good friend of Dean Winston said: "He would have really liked the window as he had an eye for detail, for beauty and colour."

Prince Charles then received a cup of tea in the Priory Centre and signed the visitors book.

The window was designed by York-based designer Helen Whittaker who is a visiting lecturer at Prince’s School of Traditional Arts. She has been working on the project for the past three years.

She said she was 'excited' at the Prince's visit.

She said: "Jeremy sounds like an incredible man who I wished I had met."

The Prince then went to Blaenavon where he officially reopened a food factory – one year after it was destroyed in a large fire.

The Prince of Wales visited Abergavenny Fine Foods Ltd. at Gilchrist Thomas Industrial Estate, which last month reopened for business after having temporarily moved production elsewhere.

He met with dignitaries including the local mayors and Torfaen MP Nick Thomas Symonds before speaking to managers, chefs and those working on the production line.

During his speech before opening a special plaque, he jokingly thanked the insurance company which “made a whole difference”.

The food company’s £10 million building was rebuilt over the last year after the devastating fire in July 2015, which was fought by six crews and 40 firefighters.

They specialise in goats cheese and frozen party food, supplying to Tesco and Marks and Spencer among others.

Opening the plaque, Prince Charles said: “It’s been a great joy for me to have a chance at visiting this newly created factory from the ashes of the old one.

“I must say I was horrified to hear about the fire and felt for you all so much.

“I have heard so much about the success of the company in the last 28 years and how it all started from small beginnings and grew and grew to encompass so many different lines and I’m thrilled that it’s proved to be such a success and that this factory does so much for Wales’ reputation not only here but also around the world.”

While touring the factory, the royal prince asked questions about where the bread comes from for the breaded goats cheese, as well as about the farms which supply the milk.

A group of eight fans of the prince gathered outside the factory to watch him arrive.

Mary Browning, from Blaenavon, said: “I love him to death, and his father. His father could boil me an egg any morning.”

Russell Pullin came to see Prince Charles and remembered meeting him when he visited the workmen’s institute. Mr Pullin said: “He said nice to meet one of the locals, I said nice to meet one of the Windsors!”