Bernard Ginns: The Royal who is now working harder for his keep

You get to travel the world on royal tours, meet interesting and eccentric people and report on an institution that has shaped the history of Great Britain over the last couple of thousand years.

I had a taste of this lifestyle while working for a national newspaper and visited some very exotic places – such as Muscat, Nairobi and Newport – in the pursuit of royal stories.

Memories of those days returned last week after a lunch with the Duke of York at the University of Huddersfield.

Prince Andrew visited the West Yorkshire institution on Friday to open a new international study centre. He met with excited staff and overseas students, telling them he hoped they were enjoying the UK's hospitality.

The Prince then had lunch with a select group of business leaders, university chiefs and local dignitaries before unveiling a plaque and giving a short speech. He told the audience that he hoped they would make the most of the new facility. He also praised the work of the university staff.

"It seems this university builds a new building every year, with alarming alacrity and without running out of money. Whatever you are doing, keep doing it because it's brilliant," said the Prince.

His words went down well. Prince Andrew, who turned 50 in February, has been getting a better press of late. Once dubbed the Playboy Prince and Randy Andy, he was regularly attacked for his lifestyle and apparently did little to dispel the negative headlines.

I reported on one occasion several years ago when he chose to attend a golfing dinner rather than help commemorate the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a move that attracted strong criticism.

Recent activities suggest a harder-working Prince, mindful that public opinion won't be kind towards lazy royals during a recession, although the Airmiles Andy tag does seem to have stuck.

In 2008, the Prince, who receives around 250,000 a year from the Queen, spent 140,000 on travel and carried out 628 engagements. Many of these engagements will have been through his work as UK Ambassador for Trade and Industry, a position he has held since 2001.

I asked a Buckingham Palace spokesman about the return for the UK taxpayer on his many overseas trips.

He said a number of UK companies have benefited from the Prince's work with contract wins.

He said: "For every quantifiable figure there are a whole host of other occasions when the Duke of York has been instrumental in helping to attract inward investment to the UK or assisting British businesses overseas.

"The Duke builds relationships over time and lobbies for British companies at the highest levels, as he regularly meets Presidents, Prime Ministers and senior officials in areas such as the Middle East, Asia and North Africa.

"Many British businesses consider the Duke's role to be hugely important, particularly in those areas of the world where his long-term commitment to the job enables him to get access to the highest-level of decision-makers."

As a past critic, I must say he seems to be doing a better job these days. Love it or loathe it, our monarchy is famous throughout the world. Its members should be working hard to take advantage of this familiarity to promote the interests of UK plc.

While we were waiting for the Duke of York to keep his lunch appointment, guests at the University of Huddersfield listened to some presentations about the institution's links with the business world in West Yorkshire.

Jonathan Thornton, the chairman of pharmaceutical firm Thornton & Ross, talked about the valuable use of the university as an external resource for research and HR purposes.

Mr Thornton also revealed how staff at the university helped with the development of the company's suppository products. It is vital, he told the audience, to get the shape of these products just right otherwise there can be problems, to put it politely.

To this end, Thornton & Ross made contact with the university's centre for precision technology. The clever people at this department got to work, produced some 3D computer-aided designs and came up with some prototypes.

These were passed to a local engineering firm which helped put the designs into practice. Mr Thornton said: "We got a good result and now we have lots of happy people walking around."