FLAGS were out in force as pupils at an exclusive Hampshire school welcomed the Earl and Countess of Wessex to their grounds yesterday.

All 300 pupils at Norman Court Preparatory School lined up as Prince Edward and wife Sophie arrived in their three-car convoy.

The Earl chatted with staff at the £13,800-a-year boarding school in West Tytherley, north of Romsey, while the Countess talk ed to the youngest pupils.

As well as meeting caterers, cooks and cleaners, the couple managed to officially open and squeeze in a visit to the school's art exhibition, chat to the on-site Brownie troop and unveil a plaque commemorating Norman Court School's 50th anniversary.

The Countess, who has recently become the new president of the Girl Guides Association, received flowers from ten-year-old Laura Pitfield, the longest serving First Tytherley Brownie, and quizzed the girls on camps and badges.

However, it was sport that dominated conversation during the hour-long visit to the 58-acre school, which has pupils from three to 13 years old.

Tom Brown, 11, a day-pupil from St Cross, Winchester, said: "The Countess asked me what sports we do here, and we also talked about the football.

"She said when England scored the disallowed goal against Portugal she jumped up and her dog came flying off her lap."

Lucca De Paoli, ten, from Highfield, Southampton, added: "It was a good visit. We have been preparing for it for about a fortnight, practising standing in the right places."

This year marks 50 years of the school, which until 1995 was called Northaw School.

Later, at Winchester Cathedral, the Earl and Countess of Wessex opened the exhibition commemorating the marriage in 1554 of Mary Tudor to Philip II of Spain.

They attended a choral evensong before a reception to mark the ambitious exhibition.

The spectacular wedding was a huge international event between two rival nations with deep religious and political ramifications.

The Earl urged: "Just remember there were two ordinary people in the middle of all this, living in an extraordinary time.

"People see kings and queens as being different. They were real people who, by a quirk of fate, happened to end up in a position of being sovereign with the huge responsibilities that go with it. It must have been an extraordinary time for these two individuals."

The exhibition runs until September 30.

For more pictures see today's Daily Echo.