While at a Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony on Tuesday, Prince William congratulates one of the guest in British Sign Language. Prince William smiled at TV veteran Alex Duguid as he signed “Congratulations, Alex,” with Alex replying, “Thank you.”
Alex was bestowed with an MBE for his services to deaf people and to British Sign Language education.
Alex Duguid, is the face of popular British TV shows Emmerdale and Coronation Street for its deaf audience for decades, as a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter. He has also spent the last 30 years helping hundreds of people learn to communicate with the deaf. Alex lost his own hearing at the age of three, when he tripped and fell, fracturing his cheekbone which resulted in total deafness in one ear and severe hearing loss in the other.
Watch the video on Hello! here
A tribute to Alex was posted on the official Kensington Palace Instagram page after. It reads:
“He is an example of how profoundly deaf people can have an impact on their community, their peers and their country. He is passionate about BSL and the need to promote and protect it. Alex has spent the past thirty years giving up his time raising hundreds of thousands of pounds towards community projects benefitting South Tyneside’s deaf community, and teaching BSL classes through the organisation Signature, helping hundreds of people communicate with deaf people — visit @signaturedeaf to find out more about their work.”
