The Prince of Wales visited an eco-friendly retrofitted former telephone exchange and met a group of international Cambridge University students on a series of engagements in the city.
Charles, 73, unveiled a plaque at the low carbon Entopia building at the university, which is the new headquarters for the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
It used to be a 1930s telephone exchange before it was retrofitted, including with solar roof panels.
The prince then met international students at King’s College, before a visit to the Whittle Laboratory to learn about work to achieve net-zero aviation.
At King’s College, the prince met seven international students who have benefited from scholarships.
Charles has been patron of the Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust, which supports international students from member countries of the Commonwealth who wish to study at Cambridge, since 2010.
He took time to speak to the students, discussing their studies and also joking with them.
He told student Paul Muiru, from Kenya, who is completing a PhD in history: “Are you pursuing the wonderful Kenyan tradition of running?
“You always win all the marathons.
“Unbelievable, incredible.”
Mr Muiru, 40, said afterwards that it was “very exciting” to meet the prince.
“I was nervous but a very good moment, memorable,” he said.
“I’m glad to have met the prince.
“He’s very intelligent, I love him.”
Vishaan Udandarao, from India, said: “At first I was awestruck when he walked in but when he started talking to us it was just like a normal conversation.”
The 22-year-old, who is studying for a masters degree in machine learning, continued: “He was really knowledgeable, quite humorous as well.
“He made me laugh, it was quite fun to talk to him.
“He knew a lot about the field and he was telling a few of his anecdotes about my field.
“It’s nice that he was very personable with the conversation.”
At the university’s Whittle Laboratory Charles was joined by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
Mr Kwarteng said it was “fantastic” to accompany the prince on a visit to “one of our country’s great seats of learning to discover more about some of the incredible new zero-emission technologies that are currently under development at the world-class Whittle Laboratory”.
He added: “We are determined to seize the economic opportunities of the global shift to greener aviation technologies, which will help to secure growth and thousands of jobs across the country.”
Professor Rob Miller, director of the Whittle Laboratory, said: “Achieving an aviation sector with no climate impact is one of society’s biggest challenges.
“Solving it will require a complex combination of technology, business, human behaviour, and policy.
“We have assembled a world-class team of academics and industry experts to take on this challenge.”
