HRH The Prince of Wales officially opened the £2.4million Clore Learning Centre at Hampton Court Palace this afternoon.

The building, which houses five teaching spaces, a gallery and a courtyard, is the palace's first space solely dedicated to education.

The prince, who was not accompanied by his wife Camilla, met pupils from New Malden's Holy Cross School who were in a workshop guessing the identity of various Tudor artefacts. "Don't tell them!" the workshop leader, who was dressed in Tudor gear, told Prince Charles.

Speaking in the gallery, under a fantastic multi-coloured dragon created by local schools, Prince Charles praised the "marvellously generous people" who helped fund the building, which include the Clore Duffield Foundation, after which the building is named.

He also talked about the palace being a great source of inspiration to artists, architects and other craftsmen. He said: "Here people can learn about architecture and grand designs from Tudor through to the 20th century."

Historic Royal Palaces, the charity responsible for the palace, hopes the new facility will increase the annual number of education visits to Hampton Court by 50 per cent to more than 100,000 by 2010.

The Duchess of Cornwall is currently in hospital recovering from a hysterectomy operation.