Princess Eugenie marks the award of the first Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie joined the winners of the first Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering at a celebratory Lunch at the Guildhall in the City of London.

The first Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering has been awarded to five people who have made major contributions to the development of the internet and the world wide web: Louis Pouzin, Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Marc Andreessen each of which have played a significant part in the development of the technology.

Their Royal Highnesses met the judges and winners of the prize, and Princess Eugenie gave a speech to mark the occasion.

Lord Browne of Madingley, Chair of Trustees for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, said “The Royal Family’s support for the Queen Elizabeth Prize has underpinned engineering’s renaissance in public life. The Prize aims to identify and celebrate role models for the aspiring engineers of the future, and by providing their own personal endorsement of the Prize, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie have made critical contributions to that endeavour.”

Sir John Parker, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Trustee of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation, said “We were honoured that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie attended the City of London reception for the winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. The audience – mainly comprised of engineers of enormous international standing and repute – were greatly impressed by Princess Eugenie’s speech, describing her personal experience of the feats of engineering, from the titanium rods that have treated her own scoliosis to how the internet and web informed and supported her work at university. The many young female engineers in the audience were delighted to hear the Princess say she hoped more girls would be inspired to become engineers.

“The Princess has a remarkable presence and I hope she and Princess Beatrice will continue to promote engineering. They are great Ambassadors.”

Her Royal Highness’s Speech to guests at the Queen Elizabeth Prize Celebration Lunch, The Guildhall

My Lord Mayor, Lord Browne, My Lord, Alderman, Sheriff, Chief Commoner, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We are delighted to be here today on behalf of The Queen to celebrate the first winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

Engineering has had a profound effect on my life because I would literally not be standing here with out the engineering expertise that developed the titanium rods for scoliosis that are keeping me upright today.

I have come to realise how fundamental engineering is to how we all live our lives now, and will do in the future. It is fantastic that we now have this prize to help celebrate success in engineering. But if I asked you what is engineering, what would be your response?

It touches our lives in so many ways – some of them obvious and others hidden from view. It is an enabler of discovery, from imaging systems that show the inner workings of cancer cells, to amazing facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

From high tech prosthetics that enable a person who has lost both legs to walk again, to keeping families and friends across the world connected – in planes, on roads, over bridges and over the air-waves.

Engineering is the key to growth and progress across the world. Engineering innovation has the power to boost not only economic growth, but also enhance important areas such as education and healthcare.

Today, we are lucky enough to be joined by the creators and engineers of the internet Louis Pouzin, Robert Kahn, Vint Cerf, the inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners Lee. Unfortunately fellow winner and the creator of the Mosaic browser Marc Andreessen could not make it here today. Speaking personally, I cannot imagine living my life without access to the internet.

I know for a fact that I would have missed a lot of deadlines at university without the click of a button with 30 seconds to go before I failed my module.

Countless essays would have been very boring and thin with out the access to knowledge over the internet and thousands of hours in the library would have been never ending without the distraction of facebook and emails!

Beyond my personal experiences I can see its influence is vast. It is clear in its introduction to developing countries, and how aid, jobs and economic growth are suddenly catapulted forward as a result of this new platform. The engineering behind the achievements of our winners have had a monumental effect on how we now live our lives. This is why I believe they are such worthy and fitting recipients of the Queen Elizabeth Prize in its first year.

I think it is easy to forget and take for granted how important engineering is to our daily lives, but this prize is one way to celebrate the incredible impact that engineering has on the world and of course to recognise the ground breaking achievements of the winners here today.

The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering was set up and developed with the aim of discovering and celebrating stories of engineering success, raising its profile and inspiring new generations of engineers to take up the challenges of the future. In its first year I can already see its positive affect, having spoken with many of you who are so enthused by the area. I hope and am sure that this prize will encourage plenty more young people to see what a career in engineering can offer.

I for one am so lucky to be able to live in a time where such extraordinary achievements and discoveries are being made

I look forward to congratulating the winners and watching the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering grow from strength to strength.

HRH Princess Eugenie

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