Especially for you: Royal hands award to Kylie

The Duke of Edinburgh has met pop star Kylie Minogue during a private audience in Windsor Castle.

Philip, 95, welcomed the much-loved Aussie star to the Queen’s Berkshire residence where he presented her with an award honouring her contribution to Anglo-Australian relations.

The royal patriarch chatted to the singer in the castle’s grand White Drawing Room as he handed over the Britain-Australia Society Award for 2016 in his capacity as patron of the Britain-Australia Society.

It is not Philip’s first encounter with Minogue. He watched her perform at the Windsor Castle pageant in May last year, staged in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday, and met her during the red carpet line-up.

But he missed her stint on stage at the Diamond Jubilee concert in front of Buckingham Palace in 2012 while he was being treated in hospital for a bladder infection.

Minogue, 48, won the hearts of the British public while playing Charlene in the hit soap Neighbours in the mid 1980s.

The performer, who already has an OBE, said after her award was announced at a reception at Australia House on Monday evening: “I’m a proud ’Aussie’ but Britain has a very strong place in my heart having lived and worked here for many years.”