COWLEY’S Mini plant was given a Royal boost today when Prince Andrew visited the factory.

The Duke of York was in Oxfordshire in his role as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.

His work involves promoting the UK to foreign investors and helping UK companies export products to emerging and established markets.

And Dr Jurgen Hedrich, managing director of the BMW plant, said the visit came as a boost in overseas sales to the car maker.

He said: “The Duke’s role is an important one in highlighting the UK’s competitiveness, especially during the current economic climate. We’re really proud to be part of his visit to Oxfordshire.”

Prince Andrew met apprentices aged 16 to 19 and was shown parts of the production line.

Nick Spencer, the plant’s supply chain director, said: “The Duke’s visit is a positive boost for the plant and BMW and I hope that it has a positive effect for Mini in terms of foreign sales.

“We are very close to the 50th anniversary of the start of Mini production and it is a real boost for the plant that the Duke has chosen to come here today following difficult times.

“We are changing our shift patterns in May in order to be able to produce more cars in the short term.”

An unexpected uplift in Mini orders for May means employees are being asked to work an extra three hours per week next month, lifting their weekly working hours from 37 to 40.

The latest figures for March showed the car’s worldwide sales were down 18.5 per cent in March at 21,888 cars, compared to 26,841 in the same month in 2008.

In February, 850 agency workers out of about 4,500 at the plant lost their jobs due to falling sales as a result of the credit crunch.

However, the plant’s new Convertible model, launched last month, could boost sales significantly, with a healthy order book already in place.

The BMW Mini plant is the only place in the world where the Mini is produced and cars from the plant are exported to nearly 80 countries around the world, including Chile and China.

In the morning, the Duke visited the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Harwell, near Didcot, and saw a satellite camera it is developing which will help detect illegal activities such as logging in two of the world’s largest rainforests in the world.

The high-resolution camera is being designed and built by scientists at the laboratory’s space department. It will be placed on a satellite, known as Amazonia-1, which will be used by the Brazilian government to tackle deforestation.

The camera will produce a map of every place in the tropical rainforest where trees have been cut down, and will also be used in the Congo rainforest.

The Duke also visited other facilities on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, including the £380m Diamond Light Source, which generates light beams 100 billion times brighter than a standard X-ray tube.

The Duke became the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment in 2001, after serving for 22 years in the Royal Navy.

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk