Quote Originally Posted by wildrover View Post
Right on!

So...what are these awards?
I was just reading about these awards yesterday. The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (Bronze, Silver, Gold - in that order) is an award from the Scout Association. Roughly the equivalent of the Venture awards (Bronze, Gold, Sliver) in the Boy Scouts of America.

From the website:

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a voluntary, non-competitive programme of practical, cultural and adventurous activities, designed to support the personal and social development of young people aged 14-25, regardless of gender, background or ability. It offers an individual challenge and encourages young people to undertake exciting, constructive, challenging and enjoyable activities in their free time.

It is a five-Section Programme with three progressive levels:

Bronze (for those aged 14 and over)
Silver (for those aged 15 and over) and
Gold (for those aged 16 and over).

The sections involve:

Volunteering (helping other people in the local community)
Expeditions (training for, planning and completing a journey on foot or horseback, by boat or cycle)
Skills (covering almost any hobby, skill or interest)
Physical (sport, dance and fitness)
Residential (Gold Award only) (a purposeful enterprise with people not previously known to the participant)


Regarding security - I'm sure the US federal government will have a hand in the mix somewhere (as liason to the locals for example), since HRH is a high-ranking foreign dignitary. They will probably leave most of the arrangements for the "up close" stuff up to the British security folks since they're more familiar with HRH's behavior, and vice versa.