The Prince of Wales will make his first visit to the Royal College of Art, Battersea since taking up the role of Royal Visitor in May this year.

Prince Charles will visit the college on Tuesday, November 20 and meet ceramics, glass and print students, staff and set-up innovators on a tour of the Battersea campus before attending a reception for supporters and staff where The Vice-Chancellor will speak, before presenting HRH with a small gift.

Prince Charles succeeds his father, The Duke of Edinburgh, who was the RCA’s Royal Visitor for 50 years from 1967, the year the Royal Charter was granted by The Queen giving the RCA university status and the power to grant degrees.

n the Wolfson Print Hall, he will view different types of printing presses including the ‘Hockney Press’, dating from 1851 and used in the Great Exhibition, on which alumnus David Hockney famously created his Rake’s Progress etchings in 1961, initially as he had run out of money and was unable to afford to buy paint. HRH will turn the press to produce a print that has been created by RCA alumna Kristina Chan o mark HRH’s 70th birthday and first visit to the RCA.

The RCA is the number one art and design university in the world, according to the QS World Universities Ranking and is the only entirely post-graduate university of art and design.

The RCA started as the Government School of Art & Design in 1837. Following the success of the Great Exhibition in 1851, it became a keystone in the creation of 'Albertopolis', the cultural development in Kensington conceived by Prince Albert comprising various cultural and educational institutions.

In 1873 students from the RCA created the mosaic frieze decorating the Royal Albert Hall, depicting "the advancement of the Arts & Sciences and works of industry of all nations". Today, the RCA runs joint courses with Imperial College, London and the V&A.

Prince Charles will also meet a number of start-up businesses from InnovationRCA in the Clore Innovation Centre, the RCA's centre for enterprise, entrepreneurship and incubation. He will meet the pioneering founders of ‘Zelp’, a device that reduces the environmental impact of methane emission caused by the livestock industry and ‘Olombria’, an agricultural technology company that enhances pollination by encouraging flies to become pollinators.