THE Prince of Wales paid tribute to the entrepreneurial flair shown by a number of business starters on a royal visit to Gwent.

In his role as the president of the Prince’s Trust, he visited Newport’s Celtic Manor Resort to hear stories of the charity’s success in helping young people.

Before wishing the audience a “happy Christmas”, the heir to the throne spoke of his pride at the various achievements, in more than 40 years, of the Trust.

The prince said: “As you can imagine, I hope, it gives me particular pride when I see some of these people, who I remember meeting 25-30 years ago, who set up in business actually selling their businesses for £70million or £30million in some cases and then coming back round to help the Trust.

“That is what again makes me so proud is that you are helping to keep this enterprise going.

“Wales can lead the way on joining up the dots it seems to me, with the help of the Prince’s Trust and all these other marvellous organisations.”

Natasha Graves, of Cwmbran, gave the prince a set of cufflinks from her business nGraves, which designs items made from mixing concrete and upcycled materials.

“I was very much in awe of the prince when I met him. He was very complimentary about my business idea,” said Miss Graves.

“I just wanted to thank him for setting up the Trust in the first place and all the supporters, volunteers and all the people involved in the whole process.

“I gave the prince a present of cufflinks made from concrete and a broken keyboard. That came from Newport’s Wastesavers.

“They donated some broken keyboards to my work and I have used that for the prince’s gift.”

She described meeting the Prince of Wales as “magical”.

“It was magical when I met him – it was snowing – it was a magical experience meeting a prince while it was snowing at the Celtic Manor,” she said.

“I never thought I’d meet a prince which it was snowing.”

Pontypool-born film star Luke Evans has been an ambassador for the charity for the past 10 years and travelled from Los Angeles for the event.

“The Prince’s Trust is a very active charity. It isn’t all words, it’s mostly actions,” said the Beauty and the Beast actor.

“It has helped them with their dreams. They often water the seeds and that all people need to allow their ideas to grow into something and fire their ambitions.

“I think this is the first time I have met him in my home country, so that’s really nice as well.

“I got to bring my mum and dad and they got to meet Prince Charles, so that was a nice treat.

“He was quite shocked that I made my way from LA to Newport and he said “You shouldn’t have done that” but it is part of my ambassadorial duties to be here.

“The prince is also very grateful and incredibly gracious.

“We were talking about surfing. He told me that he once tried surfing when he was younger in Aberystwyth.”

Former Wales rugby international Alix Popham spoke to the prince about his involvement in the RAAM ride, a 3,000 mile cycle across the USA.

“It is amazing for the city of Newport to have the prince visiting and it can show of all the good work which is being done in Newport by people in the area,” said the former Newport RFC flanker.

“It was the first time that I had met the prince and we spoke about rugby and unfortunately my injury.

“We spoke about cycling as that is my new passion and helping with the Prince’s Trust.”

Following his visit to the Celtic Manor, the prince went to Caerphilly to meet volunteers at the Caerphilly Miners Community Centre to learn about the service’s programmes.

The prince also visited the Abbeyfield residential home, of which he is a patron, for a Christmas celebration.