A CALDICOT teenager was among royalty last week after celebrating her Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) award success at Buckingham Palace.

Kaitlyn Guy, 18, received her DofE Gold Award from Welsh Olympic gold medalist Nicole Cook at a presentation at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, May 24.

The Caldicot School pupil, among several other youngsters involved on the scheme, shared her experiences with Sophie, Countess of Wessex who was joined by her husband, Prince Edward and the award’s namesake, Prince Philip.

During the Gold Award presentation, the Countess of Wessex took the opportunity to congratulate Miss Guy on her success and others within the Welsh group and heard about their DofE journeys, which took each young person 12 to 18 months to complete.

Those who achieve a Gold DofE Award will have volunteered within the scheme, learned a skill, and undertake an expedition in wild country.

Widely acknowledged as the world’s leading achievement award for young people, DofE programmes enable any young person, aged 14 to 24, to develop key skills for life and work, such as confidence, commitment and team working.

Miss Guy said: “This has been a wonderful day and a great experience. The DofE has given me the opportunity to get involved with new things and to volunteer for the local community where I am now a adult leader for a the Caldicot Brownie group.

“The Countess of Wessex was impressed when I told her I am to study mechanical engineering at university.”

She added: “I would recommend this experience to all young people , it helps top build skills and self confidence for now and for the future.”

There are currently more than 300,000 young people taking part in a DofE programme across the UK through a variety of centres including both state and independent schools, special schools, businesses, prisons, young offender institutions and youth groups.

To find out more about the DofE and how it enables young people to succeed, visit DofE.org