King Charles Presents Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Engineering at Special Buckingham Palace Reception

The award was first presented to celebrate the developers of the web

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King Charles awards Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering on Oct. 12, 2023

King Charles is celebrating innovation with a special connection to Queen Elizabeth.

On Thursday, the King, 74, presented the 2022 and 2023 Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Engineering at Buckingham Palace. The royal reception was especially commemorative as the prize celebrates its tenth anniversary year. The award honors engineers behind groundbreaking innovations that benefit humanity, such as the developers of the internet and the World Wide Web which Queen Elizabeth presented the inaugural prize with in 2013.

The King arrived in the White Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace (where he doesn’t actually live amid a $460 million renovation) and met with Lord Browne of Madingley, Chairman of The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, before moving to the prize presentations in the Blue Drawing Room.

King Charles distributed Queen Elizabeth Prizes to the 2022 and 2023 winners, as the presentation event for the annual award takes place every two years. The King gave the 2022 Queen Elizabeth Prize to Dr. Masato Sagawa to recognize the discovery, development and commercialization of NdFeB, the world’s most powerful permanent magnet. The magnet is a key part of smartphones, cars, and robots, and has been influential in the development of energy-saving tech like wind turbines and electric vehicles — a topic surely of interest to the environmentally-minded monarch.

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King Charles presents Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering on Oct. 12, 2023

Related: Why Queen Elizabeth's Name Is Still Being Used at Investiture Ceremonies Instead of King Charles

The 2023 Queen Elizabeth Prize went to Professor Martin Green, Professor Andrew Blakers, Dr. Aihua Wang and Dr. Jianhua Zhao for the invention and development of Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell solar photovoltaic technology. PERC technology has accelerated solar power as a source of electricity around the globe, and the four laureates were collectively recognized.

In the same trailblazing spirit of innovation, all five winners received trophies designed through the Queen Elizabeth Prize’s “Create the Trophy” competition. The ongoing contest welcomes young people between the ages of 14 and 24 to test their skills in 3D design technology and submit a pitch for the chance to be chosen, as new trophies are awarded each year.

The 2022 prize was designed by Anshika Agarwal, a web content producer from India, and the 2023 honor was by Anja Brandl, an engineering student from Switzerland.

Following the presentations, the King mingled with the prize winners, their families and the young trophy designers.

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King Charles presents the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering on Oct. 12, 2023 at Buckingham Palace

Related: King Charles Honors Queen Elizabeth on First Anniversary of Her Death with Message and Rare Photo

The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is a top award recognizing the successes of modern engineering and aims to promote excellence in the field, inspire young minds and encourage engineers to push the limits of what’s possible. This year marks the prize’s tenth anniversary year and was first awarded to Mr. Marc Andreessen, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Mr. Vint Cerf, Mr. Robert Kahn and Mr. Louis Pouzin for their instrumental development of the internet.

King Charles and the royal family recently marked the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death last Sept. 8, which also doubles as his first accession day. Some aspects of his reign change are still in transition, such as the boxes that hold medals for investiture ceremonies and read “By appointment to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”

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Inventor Tim Berners-Lee (R) jointly receives the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering from Queen Elizabeth at a reception to mark the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2013.

While The Telegraph reported in May that plans are in motion for a Queen Elizabeth memorial in the U.K., her eldest son has already done the honors of revealing a tribute in her honor after her death.

Last November, the King unveiled (what proved to be) the first posthumous statue of his late mother while visiting the city of York and spoke about the unexpected timing of the unveiling at York Minster, Britain’s largest Gothic cathedral.

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King Charles, next to Queen Camilla, unveils the statue of Queen Elizabeth II outside York Minster.

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“When this statue was first planned five years ago, during a reign of unprecedented duration and achievement, it was intended as a celebration of the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee,” King Charles said, CNN reported.

“Now, as we have witnessed, with great sadness, the passing of that reign, it is unveiled in her memory, as a tribute to a life of extraordinary service and devotion,” he added.

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