Prince William and Duchess Catherine donned hard hats to put some final touches to a bridge on Wednesday (21.02.18).

Prince William and Duchess Catherine with their hard hats on (c) Kensington Palace

Prince William and Duchess Catherine with their hard hats on (c) Kensington Palace

The royal couple wore the protective head gear and fluorescent jackets ahead of their mini building shift on the Northern Spire bridge in Sunderland, north east England.

A video on the Kensington Palace Twitter account shows William tightening a bolt on the brand-new £117.6 million structure, which is due to open this spring.

The bridge is also expected to bring 6,000 jobs to the area.

Catherine used a spanner to put a few fishing touches to the bridge, which runs over the River Wear and will improve transport links between the Port of Sunderland and the city centre.

Engineer Peter Smilie told the Sunderland Echo: "Basically, they just tightened up a few of our rails on the parapet."

He also admitted being "nervous" about meeting the pair.

Peter added: "I found out last week that they were coming and it was a shock really.

"I was nervous to begin with, because it's not someone you are going to meet every day.

"I've only ever seen them on the telly before, so to actually see them in the flesh and be part of what we do is an achievement really."

William and Catherine met residents from both sides of the crossing, and she was gifted a bouquet of flowers from kids from Highfield Primary School.

Youngsters from Castletown Primary School handed her teddy bears for the pair's kids, Prince George, four, and two-year-old Princess Charlotte.