Icing on the cake as Princess Beatrice pays a visit to city's biggest tourist attractions

Princess Beatrice tries her hand at icing some chocolate bees at Yorkshire Chocolate Story. (GL1010/37b)

It gives a whole new meaning to Royal icing. Princess Beatrice of York got hands-on with chocolatiers yesterday when she visited York's Chocolate Story with representatives from some of the city's top visitor attractions.

The Princess was given a guided tour and heard about the impact of the Christmas floods on businesses including Jorvik Viking Centre and York Dungeon.

Nikki Jacobs, General Manager of York’s Chocolate Story said: “York has such a unique and diverse tourism offering and it is wonderful to have the support of the city’s Princess following a challenging start to the year.”

The Princess also went behind the scenes of York Minster’s spectacular production of the Mystery Plays, meeting producer Nicky Corp, stage manager John Pemberton and members of the 150-strong community cast.

Princess Beatrice meets schoolchildren as she arrives at Yorkshire Chocolate Story. (GL1010/37h)

She later visited York Theatre Royal where she got to see the changes which have taken place as part of its £6m redevelopment.

The Princess, a Royal Patron of the theatre, met children from Acomb Primary School, members of the York Theatre Royal choir and donors to the capital fundraising appeal, before seeing a short performance of a scene of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

The theatre’s chief executive Liz Wilson said they were grateful for the Princess’s continued support.