A COUPLE from Stanton St Quintin were amazed to see their daughter on national TV with Prince William.

Charlotte Whitham from Harworth, 30, who grew up in Lower Stanton St Quintin, attended the same international conference in Yunnan as Prince William on the final day of his visit to China last week.

The Duke of Cambridge highlighted the cruel illegal trade of killing elephants for their tusks and welcomed the one-year ban on the import of ivory carvings just implemented in China.

Speaking to journalists at Xishuangbanna Elephant Sanctuary, he said: "It is appalling that elephants and many others may be extinct in the wild in our lifetimes.”

Miss Whitham, who went to Grittleton House School before doing a degree in environmental conservation at Liverpool, was there giving a presentation on the tiger population of South China, which is critically endangered due to poaching and habitat loss.

Her mum, Rachel Whitham, said: “We are very proud parents, especially as we watched our daughter saying goodbye to Prince William on BBC News on Wednesday as he flew back to the UK.

“In a Skype message, Charlotte described Prince William as a lovely man. She said he was easy to talk to and passionate about endangered animals.”

It was a treat for her and husband Philip to see their daughter, as she has been in China for five years doing a PhD at Beijing Forestry University.

He said: “It was amazing, quite something to see our daughter on national TV.”

They said Miss Whitham had not mentioned an alleged tourist attraction of performing elephants on the same park, widely reported in the media.

Sky News claimed that while the Prince was photographed feeding carrots to a rescued elephant called Ran Ran, other elephants less than a mile away were shackled and made to perform for tourists every day.