HM The Queen to Open University of Leicester's Award-Winning Library

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to visit stunning state-of-the-art facility

Her Majesty The Queen is to open the University of Leicester's award-winning David Wilson Library on Thursday 4 December.

The University of Leicester will be the first venue during a visit to Leicestershire by HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

The Queen and The Duke will tour the state-of-the-art Library and meet with staff, students and sponsors, including David Wilson, the primary benefactor. They will also have lunch at the University of Leicester during their visit to the City.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Burgess said: "To welcome The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh back to the University after 50 years is another tremendous accomplishment for the University. We hope that they will be able to see the progress Leicester has made during this time. We also look forward to highlighting our many achievements and to give Her Majesty and His Royal Highness the opportunity to see students demonstrating how the new Library benefits them in their studies."

Librarian and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Christine Fyfe added: "We are very proud to show The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh our award-winning library which symbolises the University's strong commitment to learning."

The £32 million David Wilson Library, completed in April this year, has won the 2008 RIBA East Midlands Award for Architecture and it the 2008 Building of the Year prize at the Property and Construction awards organised annually by ProCon Leicestershire.

This stunning space, purpose-built for learning and research, is a development befitting the Times Higher Education's University of the Year 2008/9. The 15,000 sq metre Library includes a range of study spaces for 1500 readers, a million books supplemented by extensive digital databases and journals, and 350 PCs, along with a 500 seat lecture theatre, a bookshop and a cafe.

HM The Queen last visited the University of Leicester in 1958, a year after the University was granted its Royal Charter, which awarded it degree-awarding powers. During that visit, Her Majesty opened the Percy Gee Building, which houses the Students' Union.

On that occasion Her Majesty graced the occasion with the words: "Your double welcome to me and to my husband, and your assembly here in one building do indeed demonstrate the strength of the bond between city and university. Your city, rich in history and so closely linked with the story of Parliament, has always been a great centre of communications. Today, one of the foremost industrial towns in England, it also cherishes the things of the mind and the spirit."