The Duchess of Cornwall visits Mulberry School for Girls and The Royal Foundation of St Katharine

The Duchess of Cornwall today carried out engagements in East London, first visiting Mulberry School for Girls to learn about its work encouraging students to tackle issues based around their gender.

The school has been involved with the Women of the World Festival (WOW), an initiative which has grown to become a global network of events which champion gender equality, celebrate the achievements of women and girls, and examine the obstacles that stop them from fulfilling their potential.

During Her Royal Highness’s visit, innovative ideas were used by the school's feminist society to make topics more accessible, with a coconut shy set up in the library where targets had labels like "stereotyping" or "inequality".

The Duchess used a bean bag with the word "leadership" on it to knock over a coconut, and also tried bowling at skittles with statistics about inequalities tied to them.

Her Royal Highness is President of WOW and was joined during the visit by Jude Kelly, the former Southbank Centre artistic director and WoW founder.

Jude Kelly commented: "I said right from the beginning, WOW had to involve girls and women of all ages and backgrounds, and establish the idea that to have an excitement about equality you had to be talking about gender, race, sexuality, disability - all of those things.

"The whole thing about WOW is it's meant to be spirited and exciting and fun but essentially about human progress."

The Duchess visited English and Dance classes before meeting students working on oil paintings and watching a performance by the Mulberry Theatre Company.

The Duchess of Cornwall then toured The Royal Foundation of St Katharine, a retreat house and conference centre that provides a space for women’s groups, community groups, artists and local organisations.

Her Royal Highness concluded the visit with a trip to the Yurt Café- a social enterprise with price-protected items.