Camilla's visit

The weather was grey and persistently damp outside the De La Warr Pavilion as a hardy and determined crowd waited to see this latest addition to the royal family on her first official visit to East Sussex.

Afterwards she told the Observer how she thought her two-hour visit went: "I loved it. It is a great pleasure to be back here in Sussex...I'm just sorry about the weather."

Having arrived at Cooden Beach helicopter landing site, she was driven by car to the De La Warr Pavilion where she was greeted by the Lord Lieutenant Mrs Phyllida Stewart-Roberts.

She walked past the patient crowd by the bandstand, accepting flowers and good wishes, protected by a transparent umbrella which kept some of the rain off her pale turquoise two-piece.

Music was provided by seven members of the Battle Town Band, who played Sussex By The Sea, as she made her entrance.

Trumpeter Russell Kemp said: "It was very windswept and cold ... We all had cold fingers by the end."

He was joined by Shelley Clark, Damian Martin, Rosie Wilcock, Andy Jackson, Hannah Bergin and Evan Gill.

Once inside, Camilla met local dignitaries including MP Greg Barker and Pavilion chairman Dr Richard Sykes.

Also in this group was Rother District Council chief executive Derek Stevens, and chairman Cllr Wendy Miers.

Camilla was greeted at the staircase by 10-year-old Alice McKenna, a pupil at St Peter and St Paul, who said she felt "nervous". Alice was wearing a lovely new white dress for the occasion, and supported by her parents Frances and Eamonn who described themselves as "very proud and excited."

The Duchess was then escorted by the Earl and Countess De La Warr to view the original plaque under the south staircase commemorating the founding of the building 70 years ago, before witnessing the laying of a new plaque on the Education Studio site.

In the entrance foyer she met Jill Theis, responsible for the re-birth of the building, plus Pavilion director Alan Haydon, his deputy Emma Morris and head of communications Sally-Anne Lycett.

In the gallery upstairs she spoke to photographer Bridget Smith, whose work is currently being displayed.

Bridget said: "It's all a bit weird ... but I am trying not to find it nerve-wracking."

On duty in the gallery was Candice Malt, who was finding the experience of Camilla's visit "very interesting."

"It is nice for Bexhill to have this kind of occasion - but it is a pity about the weather."

At the rooftop foyer, the Duchess saw a sample of the Pavilion's education programme and met its director, Polly Gifford.

She spent some time chatting to Year 5 pupils from St Peter and St Paul School who recently worked on an art and music project inspired by a previous exhibition.

Ten year old Yazmin Lawrence found the meeting "scary" and said: "She kept on asking questions."

Maddie Deane thought the royal visitor was "very pretty".

Rebecca Feakins, also 10, added: "She asked us what we were all doing, and if our school was nice. We said it was really nice - one of the finest schools around.

"I was quite nervous when we were coming here, because I didn't really know what questions she was going to ask us, and if I would be able to answer.

"I was pleased with myself."

On a fashion note, Rebecca said: "She wore quite posh clothes...but didn't have gloves on. That is unusual for a Royal."

The schedule included a visit to the cafe, where tables were set up with pots of tea and delicate victoria sponges with cream and jam.

Here were a number of guests who had associations with the building, such as 96 year old George Koerner, who was related to one of the original DLWP architects, Serge Chermayeff.

Margaret Jones was invited because of her youth work in Bexhill, but has strong royal connection herself, as she was once a court correspondent who reported on royal trips.

She travelled with the Queen and Prince Philip, to destinations such as Australia, Ethiopia and the Caribbean.

"I went on the first trip the Queen made to Germany after the war - it was very important politically."

She enjoyed her meeting with Camilla and said: "I thought she was brilliant, a wonderful addition to the royal family because she is so friendly and natural."

At one table was seated Penny Hobson, Denis Hall, Trish Daly from BATS, and Tim Wormley-Healing from BLODS, who chatted with the Duchess about her visit to Bexhill.

Penny said: "She was very charming indeed, very interesting. She said she had come here to swim as a child, because she was born and brought up in Plumpton. She used to come here in her youth."

Tim added: "It was very quick. But she is a very charming lady. She asked who I was, and what BLODS were doing. She was very natural - she also asked us how much we charged for a ticket..."

Bexhill museum's Heather Morrey commented: "She was very good at talking to people - thoroughly natural. She spoke to all of us in a natural way. They used to bring her down to the seaside here - she was made to swim in the sea. She knows Bexhill.

"She was lovely. She makes everybody feel at ease."

Approximately 60 people were assembled in the cafe and restaurant, where Dr Sykes thanked her for attending, invited her to sign the visitors' book, and presented her with a book about the DLWP called A Modernist Masterpiece. She left the building to a flurry of activity from press photographers, including the Sun's legendary Arthur Edwards, leaving in her car with the Lord Lieutenant to make her way back to Cooden for the return trip.