In the children’s song, the Grand Old Duke had 10,000 men involved in a spot of hillclimbing: North Lanarkshire has put 5,000 young people in five years through Outward Bound five-day courses at Loch Eil, outside Fort William, and this week won royal support in Jubilee Week.

The Duke, who has taken on the patron’s role from his father at the Outward Bound Trust, was at Bellshill Academy on Wednesday to celebrate the continuing success of Outward Bound courses in raising esteem and achievement.

Stuart Neilson, of Calderhead High, Shotts, who has accompanied pupils, said: “Their personal goals are now different and their self-worth has manifested itself. Now they realise that things they previously regarded as impossible are within their grasp.”