A firm's managing partner was left red-faced in front of royalty during a Queen’s Award ceremony in Melksham when he called Prince Andrew, the Duke of Kent to everyone’s amusement.

Tom Roach, managing partner of Checkmate Group which supplies rubber dunnage bags to civilian and military ships to support cargo, had been reading a speech to a crowd of employees and visitors including Prince Andrew, the Duke of York when he said: “We are very happy to have the Duke of Kent here.” He and had to be corrected by a member of the audience before he remembered what he had said, much to the Duke of York’s amusement.

His Royal Highness joked: “Where did you get him from?”

After Prince Andrew presented the Queen’s Award for Innovation to the longest standing employee Richard Berry who has been with company for 46 years, Mr Roach apologised for his mix up and the duke replied saying he has been called Kent, Edinburgh, York.

Mr Berry was relieved he had not made the mistake. He said: “I was so relieved when he handed me the Queen’s Award that I didn’t drop it. I held on really tight to it.”

Prince Andrew finished his trip to the factory on Melksham Industrial Estate with a speech.

He said: “Ladies and gentlemen just to say congratulations. Giving out awards is a great pleasure for me.

“These awards are not just for the people at the top but to remind people that it is for the entire team of people who work here.”

Despite being more than an hour late for the visit Prince Andrew was really interested in what Checkmate does due to his naval experience. He was given a tour around the factory and he talked to employees about the process, standing on the finished product to test its durability.

He was also shown a new project that Checkmate Seaenergy had been working on, The Anaconda Wave Energy Converter which Prince Andrew seemed to be interested in, asking a lot of questions about the components.

Mr Auston said: “I think despite the delay the visit went really well and it was a great event. Prince Andrew seemed to be really interested in what we are doing and our innovation to try and stay in line with the competition.”