A DENBIGHSHIRE businessman has re-called the time he had the chance to drink tea and share a joke or two with the Duke of Edinburgh - who had made him ‘feel at ease from the first moment’.

On Friday, April 4, Buckingham Palace announced that the Duke, His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Philip, had died aged 99 - just two months before his 100th birthday on June 10.

Back in 2008, Mark Williams, who runs the LIMB-art business based at Nant-y-Lladron in Denbigh, was working for Ecolab.

A milking equipment cleaning programme claimed to bring savings of £1000 a year in energy saw the company win the RABDF Prince Philip Award, presented at Buckingham Palace.

As a result, Mark, who is from Rhyl, had the opportunity of meeting the Duke of Edinburgh - a moment he now looks back on with pride.

Mark Williams (second from left) with Ecolab colleagues and HRH Prince Philip.

Mark Williams (second from left) with Ecolab colleagues and HRH Prince Philip.

Mark Williams (second from left) with HRH Prince Philip in 2008.

Mark said: "I was leading a project where we managed to turn milk into a disinfectant and we won the HRH Prince Phillip Innovation of the Year award . We were Invited by Prince Phillip down to Buckingham Palace to receive our award where we spent around a hour in the centre room from which the royal balcony is accessed drinking tea with him.

"Leading up to this I was feeling very nervous about what was about to happen. We showed our invites to security and were led straight through the main front entrance and through a maze of corridors with fantastic art and gold everywhere to meet HRH`s aid who talked us through the protocols of meeting the Duke.

"I talked to him about our innovation and it was clear he was well briefed on what we had done and even asked his aid to put me in contact with Prince Charles as he had a “few” dairy farms that could use our innovation.

"The conversation soon turned away from the awards to HRH himself and how he was struggling to agree with 'all this new Health and Safety Nonsense' - he told us a few weeks prior 'I was opening a new building in London and as I walked through the building all the workmen leaned over the railings above to see me and a shower of hard hats rained down on me - bloody ridiculous' and he laughed.

"What I found was that he spoke to you like an equal person and you felt at ease right from the first moment with him. It was a privilege to have spoken to him, shook his hand and listened to his jokes."

Former paralympian swimmer Mark (below) started his LIMB-art designs back in 2018.

Mark Williams is known as the man who started Denbigh-based LIMB-art.

Mark Williams is known as the man who started Denbigh-based LIMB-art.

The company manufactures prosthetic leg covers and is expanding rapidly with an increasing number of international customers.

LIMB-art started by Mark who has had to overcome his own body image issues, having lost his leg in a road traffic accident when cycling home from school in Rhyl when he was just 10 years old.

News of Prince Philip's death broke on Friday afternoon.

The Duke of Edinburgh had recently returned home after a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition in March.

The Duke was married to Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years and became the longest-serving consort in British history.

A statement from Buckingham Palace said: “It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”

The statement added: “The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”