THE Countess of Verulam, who lives in St Albans, has met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry when they officially opened the £100 million Warner Bros. Studio in Herts today (Friday).

The studio welcomed their Royal Highnesses to a tour of the studio in Leavesden, the production home of all eight Harry Potter films.

The new studio is spread across a 200 acre site and houses a collection of some of the largest sound stages in the UK.

Rupert Grint, of Kimpton, who plays Ron Weasley in the hit films, turned 21 during filming of Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince.

Lady Verulam was one of several dignitaries to officially welcome the Royal trio.

The Queen appointed Lady Verulam, married to the Earl of Verulam, as Lord Lieutenant for Herts upon the retirement of Sir Simon Bowes Lyon in 2007.

She has lived at Gorhambury in St Albans for over 35 years.

The Harry Potter film series has made Leavesden its home for over 10 years.

In 2010 Warner Bros invested over £100 million into the studios to create Warner Bros Studios Leavesden, a permanent UK film production base for the company.

As part of the redevelopment, two new sound stages were planned to house a permanent behind-the-scenes walking tour.

Next month animal actors from the Harry Potter film series will make a special appearance at the studio, which highlights the talented training teams that helped create the performance of over 250 animals which appeared across all eight films.