The Earl arrived by helicopter from Holy Island before meeting with George Laidler, the son of one of the pitman painters, Fred Laidler, in the Ashington Group Gallery at Woodhorn.

The next stop saw the Earl admiring art by modern pitman painter Oliver Kilbourn before a meeting with Ashington Group trustees George Stephenson and Ian Lavery, along with the chief executive of the Live Theatre, Jume Beirne who presented him with a painting of a fish and chip shop by Fred Laidler.

The Earl then unveiled a plaque to officially open the Workshop Gallery, which has recently undergone a million pound conversion of an old workshop block and currently displays an exhibition of photographs by winners of Shell World Wildlife Photographers of the Year.

Before his Woodhorn visit came to an end, the Earl was introduced to the chairman of Northumberland County Council, Coun Ian Tompkins and wife Jackie, and Coun Brian Richmond, civic head of Wansbeck District Council and his wife Mary.

Coun Tompkins told the News Post Leader: "The Earl is the first royal we've met – he was very nice and very natural.

"We are very proud of the facilities here at Woodhorn and we are proud of the staff."

Coun Richmond added: "I thought he was really down to earth.

"He was very interested and I think he would have liked to have gone underground (into a real mine)."

The Earl was then whisked away to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea for part two of his busy afternoon and a visit to Newbiggin Sailing Club, where he met with representatives of the contractors involved in the regeneration of the seafront.

Waiting outside were local schoolchildren waving flags along with hundreds of others who had gathered to catch a glimpse of the Earl.

Seventy-one-year-old pensioner Jean Weatheritt, from Byker, who had travelled to Newbiggin just to see the royal visitor, said that she has previously met the Queen and Princess Diana on visits to the region.

Children lined the route the Earl would later take along the Promenade where he was shown the Couple sculpture before he visited Newbiggin Lifeboat Station where he met with representatives.

Then it was on to the Newbiggin Heritage Centre further along the Promenade before the tour culminated at Church Point car park with a visit to the restored former lifeboat Mary Joicey, where the Earl met the last surviving crew member who sailed the boat to Newbiggin from the shipyard in Scotland where she was built in 1966.

Mr Martin said: "It's marvellous that he could make it here.

"I presented him with a picture of a rescue at sea on January 31, 1975.

"He was very natural, very relaxed and nice to talk to."