THE Duke of York, military man of action, came to the fore on Tuesday, when Prince Andrew visited a technological centre of excellence near Romsey.

The duke was at Roke Manor Research to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company, which has developed world-beating electronic inventions.

Examples are Height Monitoring Element, which monitors the height of aircraft for safer air travel, and Hawk-Eye, which recreates tennis or cricket action to increase spectator enjoyment and aid umpire decisions.

But it was the military inventions of Roke that most interested the duke when he toured the company's research campus, in countryside at Awbridge.

He gave a rousing pep talk to some of the 450 scientists and others who work there and later he told 300 Roke customers and other guests: "I say a big thank-you to all that work here, particularly for some of the military aspects, which I have some memory of."

Britain had soldiers, sailors and airmen serving in all sorts of theatres around the globe, he said.

"And the work that Roke does helps to protect them from the dozens of threats in those parts of the world."

The duke was speaking in a marquee and, when the tent was buffeted by wind, he showed his sense of humour by commending its weather-proofing. "I hope it doesn't blow down, having opened a multi-storey car park with no sides at Southampton port this morning."

Touring exhibits of Roke's past and present inventions, the Duke came across a paperback-sized Sarbre sic personal locator beacon similar to those carried by aircrew in the Falklands conflict. Sabre is used when combatants are stranded in enemy territory and need to let rescuers know where they are. Standing by to explain the device to the royal visitor was consultant engineer, Carlton Douglas.

"But he said he knew what it was," Mr Douglas said afterwards. "He said he didn't want 'to go back there'."

Roke's customers are manufacturers who need a specialist research and development company to perfect new products. It was founded in 1956 by Plessey, which was taken over in 1990 by Siemens of Germany and Britain's GEC. A year later GEC sold its 50 per cent stake, and Roke is now wholly owned by Siemens.

Last year Roke's expertise, largely in sensors and communications, generated a turnover of £35.5m.