The boss of the country’s fastest growing hospitality businesses, which has its HQ in Birmingham, was a special guest at Buckingham Palace where he met the Duke of Edinburgh.

Nick Taplin, who is CEO of Black & White Hospitality and manages Hotel Indigo, the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill and club and spa at The Cube, was invited to the palace on the back of efforts to raise £60,000 for Action Medical Research for Children of which the Duke is patron.

Accompanied by fellow director Shezan Aslan, the duo plus a 35-stong team from Black & White Hospitality are now in training to take part in a gruelling 500km bike ride from London to Paris in July.

Nick said: “We did a similar ride last year and was a fantastic experience so are delighted to be doing it again for Action Medical Research for Children. We certainly didn’t expect an invite to meet the Duke and was a real honour and privilege to have been personally invited.

“The Duke sure is as quick witted as the media reports and has a certain sparkle in his eye. To tell him we are aiming to raise £60,000 for a charity he is so closely linked was a great thing to do and he was really impressed.

“The charity does some fantastic work improving the health of babies and children and we now want as many people to dig deep and support the team so we can reach and hopefully surpass our target. We may even plan our own ride next year if we can get our team over 50 people”

To support team Black & White please visithttps://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/blackandwhitehospitality