Slideshow: Duke unveils Walsingham visitor centre

The holy Norfolk village known as “England's Nazareth” attracted a Royal pilgrim yesterday as the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a £2m visitor centre.

Prince Philip visited the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham to formally open the Milner Wing, which includes a new welcome centre and accommodation block.

He was greeted by shrine administrator Bishop Lindsay Urwin and given a tour of the complex where he met some of the 5,000 donors who helped fund the project.

The duke was in good spirits, sharing a joke with the Sisters of Society of St Margaret before visiting the Holy House in the shrine church, where a candle burns daily for his wife, the Queen.

He then took part in a service of blessing before unveiling a commemorative plaque watched by a crowd of more than 200, including senior civic and church leaders.

Bishop Lindsay said: “The visit of a senior Royal is a significant event in any community, and I think it does say something about the importance of the shrine and the life of the church in the nation.

“I think he was rather surprised by the magnitude of it all. He was very interested in the architecture and why people come here.

“This is a place for the committed and a place for the curious - the welcome centre is a renewed emphasis on our care for the curious.”

The interactive welcome centre, which also benefited from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, includes a film made with a cast of local people explaining the shrine's history and its work.

The Milner Wing was conceived by Bishop Lindsay's predecessor Fr Phillip North, who returned to meet Prince Philip yesterday.

He said: “It was an awful lot of hard work during the time I was here, so it is lovely to come to this day and see it blessed with a Royal visit.

“There was a need to improve the accommodation, particularly for vulnerable people. While the prince was upstairs he met a woman from County Durham who had travelled here with her disabled daughter. It was not someone who had been lined up to meet him, but he spent more time talking to her than anyone else. It was lovely, and crystallises what all this work has been about.”

During his tour, Prince Philip discussed the landscaping of the courtyard with gardener Steve Eley, who said: “Everybody knows Norfolk has had such a dry season and he was very interested in how much water we have had to put on the ground.

“He was overwhelmed with the garden, and very knowledgeable. He was amazed with the trees we had planted, particularly the weeping pears, which he spotted as soon as he walked in.”

A special guest at the celebrations was the Orthodox Archbishop, Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, who was invited to honour Prince Philip's Greek family origins.