A ROUTINE royal engagement for the Duchess of Cornwall in the pretty Sussex village of Ditchling turned into a school reunion and a chance to reminisce about the good old days.

A 100-strong crowd, including children from local schools, gathered on the village green to welcome Camilla, who attended school in the village and grew up in nearby Plumpton.

She was given a guided tour of Ditchling Museum by museum chairwoman and old school friend Jenny KilBride.

The two attended Dumbrells School, and a black and white picture of them both as five-year-old schoolgirls is included in an exhibition, Portrait of a Village: People, Places and Pastimes.

It shows Camilla standing, in her words "shoulders back, very straight", dressed in a flared check-skirt and white blouse, with unruly hair and a big grin on her face.

Camilla, who attended the school until she was ten, said: "It was a fantastic school. I learned everything there."

Her artwork was also on display - a lino cut-out of a duck - while a programme for Scenes From Robin Hood listed her as playing the lead role.

She said: "It's such fun to come back and see it all. It's very nostalgic."

Ms KilBride, 57, of Clayton Road, Ditchling, said: "She was a really popular person. She was the sort of person that if you were having teams chosen everyone would choose her early on. She had a very attractive, strong personality and was fun."

She remembers Camilla being horse-mad, and spending her spare time competing in gymkhanas.

Ms KilBride said: "It's been 40 years since I last saw her but she seems the same to me.

"I remember her very well. We never imagined she would marry a prince, let alone the future king, how could we?

"I was cross with myself because I was nervous before she arrived but when I saw her she was so relaxed it was lovely.

"It was so nice for her to come here again. It is such a small museum but with such a great collection. Her visit is marvellous for the museum."

Dame Vera Lynn, patron of the museum who moved to Ditchling about 45 years ago, also greeted the duchess.

She said: "I have met her before and she had always been very relaxed and charming. She thoroughly enjoyed her visit here."

Crowds filled the village green waiting to see the duchess and the school closed early so children could attend.

James Eills, 13, of Ditchling, left school early in order to ask for a royal autograph. His planning paid off - he thrust a piece of paper ripped from his German exercise book at the duchess and she duly obliged.

He said: "I went up and she said she was not really meant to and then gave me the autograph. I was trembling, I was scared to ask at first."

Another well-wisher was Nicky Low, 50, of Lewes Road, Ditchling. He said: "The duchess said how nice it was to come here again and she has fond memories of the village. My son Edmund is 11 and was so excited he had been filming it all."

The Ditchling visit topped a day of engagements in Sussex for the duchess. Earlier she laid a plaque at the new education centre in Bexhill; officially opened the new gates at the Tudor Anne of Cleves House in Lewes; and opened a new science and art centre at St Pancras School in Lewes.

The duchess's tour started in Bexhill where she saw how £9m has been spent on the refurbished, art deco, De La Warr Pavilion on the seafront.

Camilla, dressed in a turquoise two-piece outfit and holding an umbrella, was met by Richard Sykes, chairman of the De La Warr Pavilion Trust, before being presented to the Earl and Countess De La Warr and Jill Theis, founder of the original Pavilion Trust.

After being greeted by flag-waving children and the Battle Tour Band, Camilla collected posies from ten-year-old Alice McKenna before being escorted by pavilion director Alan Hayden on a tour of contemporary exhibitions and a dance workshop.

Later she perched on children's chairs beside youngsters from St Peter and St Paul's School in Bexhill as they made patterns with paints.

The duchess impressed ten-year-old Maddy Beane. She said: "Camilla was nice to meet and it was the first time I had ever met royalty before. I told her painting was one of my favourite subjects."

Camilla then met representatives from the pavilion's community, including 96-year-old George Korner, a cousin of Serge Chermayeff, one of the pavilion's original architects.

She also met the father of cross-dressing comic Eddie Izzard, who grew up in Bexhill. John Izzard offered his apologies to Camilla for his son's absence, telling her he was away at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mr Izzard, who joined the celebrations when the De La Warr opened in 1935, said: "I've met her husband before at a Prince's Trust concert at Wembley Arena and she's a very kind lady. Eddie would have been here if he could have made it but unfortunately he is in Cannes but I know he really would have loved it today."

Her second stop was Anne of Cleves House, in Lewes, where children from Southover Primary School dressed in Tudor costume to welcome the duchess as she was taken on a tour of the house.

Edmund Maynard, 11, and Frances Livesey, nine, presented her with flowers on her arrival, and as she left Gay Cossins presented her with some Harveys beer as a reminder of her visit.

Mrs Cossins, 61, of Landport Road, Lewes, said: "She is a lovely woman, loving and caring. She and Prince Charles are always laughing together when you see them.

"She is a very warm, family woman and we wanted to give her a gift so we thought some local beer was ideal."

Later, the duchess visited St Pancras Catholic School in Lewes to unveil a plaque celebrating the opening of a new science and art centre which was built using sustainable local materials, such as coppiced chestnut, lamb's wool insulation as well as wooden shingles from the Duchy of Cornwall estate.

She spoke to children in their classrooms as they built toys and glued colourful shapes of card on to pages. She then joined them in the science and art centre, known as The Ark, as they were icing animal-shaped biscuits.

All 107 schoolchildren later gathered in the hall to sing Camilla two songs about Noah and their love for their school.

Camilla smiled and patted her knees in rhythm as she listened to the children, before unveiling the plaque to loud applause.

She told them: "Thank you for a beautiful afternoon. I have been impressed with it all. If you ask me back again, I'll certainly come back."

After accepting a number of gifts, including a book featuring self-portraits of the pupils, Camilla was waved off by a crowd of children who had gathered with their teachers in the playground.