HRH The Duchess of Cambridge has become Scouting’s newest volunteer and will help at local cub packs and beaver colonies, Clarence House has announced.

The Scout Association said she will be be teaching boys and girls - aged from six to 10 - a variety of skills including putting up tents and lighting fires.She will work with youngsters near her home on Anglesey, but will also assist in other areas of the UK.

The duchess, a former Brownie, has also become patron of four charities.

Across the UK, she has accepted honorary positions with Action on Addiction, East Anglia's Children's Hospices, the Art Room and the National Portrait Gallery.

The Scout Association said her role with them would be as an active volunteer. A spokesman said: "She doesn't want to turn up and open things, she wants to volunteer, and that's the difference.

"It's about rolling up your sleeves, getting your hands dirty, and that's what she'll find is fun."

Her work will start with groups in north Wales, where her husband William works as an RAF helicopter pilot, but could see her helping across the UK, or wherever she lives in the future.

The spokesman added: "She will be doing all the things that any other volunteer leader would do.