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Now called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the ex-Duke visited two companies at Milton Park near Didcot on October 31, 2005.
He did so in his role as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment and had lunch with more than 40 leaders at the Brookes on the Park restaurant to talk about the export market.
Milton Park managing director John Bateman said the park’s first Royal visit had been a huge success.
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He said: “The Duke was very impressed with facilities and the number of companies here and he was pleased to learn more about the importance of Oxfordshire in the scientific field.
“He was here in his role promoting UK exports and that is why he chose these two companies that are doing well and both of which started at Milton Park.”
Since then, details have emerged of his links to convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein as well as claims by Virginia Giuffre, an advocate for survivors of sex trafficking who died by suicide earlier this year.
The former prince denies her claims and in February 2022 settled a civil suit from Ms Giuffre, paying her an undisclosed amount and making a substantial donation to her charity.
This isn’t the only time that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has been welcomed to Oxfordshire.
In July 2000, the then prince flew into RAF Benson in Wallingford to open its £100 million state-of-the-art helicopter flight simulator unit.
Cowley’s Mini plant hosted him in April 2009, as the country was reeling from the impact of the 2008 credit crisis.
Dr Jurgen Hedrich, managing director of the BMW plant, said the visit came as a boost to overseas sales for the car maker.
In February 2012 he met college staff and governors at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College’s Blackbird Leys, before being given a tour of the campus.
More recently, he praised Oxfordshire’s role as a global centre for pioneering space technology in a 2018 visit to Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, which he was royal patron of for many years.
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He said in June 2018: “It’s the human interaction between people that is going to make the difference to allow businesses to grow and overcome barriers to growth.”
After his visit to Harwell, the Duke visited Williams Advanced Engineering in Grove.
While there, Prince Andrew and the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire presented the team with the 2018 Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.
