WORCESTER welcomed a royal visitor this weekend as a European sporting tournament hosted by the city came to a close.

The Countess of Wessex arrived at Worcester Racecourse by helicopter on Sunday, September 6 to watch the finals of the European Wheelchair Basketball Championships.

The royal, who is married to Prince Edward and daughter-in-law of the Queen, is a patron of British Wheelchair Basketball and presented gold medals to the Great Britain men's team after they came out as champions against Turkey.

Harry Higgs caught a glimpse of the royal visitor while on his way back from a charity football match between West Bromwich Old Stars and Pershore Football Club with his brother Raymond.

"We had been to McDonalds and sat by the river when we noticed an helicopter approaching appearing to come in to land," he said.

"So we drove over the bridge to the race course where we noticed the landed helicopter.

"As we walked nearer onto the race course we turned and saw what appeared to be Range Rovers and a Jaguar pulling into the course towards the helicopter."

He immediately got out his camera and started snapping photos.

"We saw the Countess of Wessex get out of one of the cars and chat to waiting people before climbing aboard the helicopter to leave," he said.

"What a moment it was - being in the right place at the right time."

The Great Britain Women's team also fared well, coming out third after beating the Netherlands, while Germany won gold medals, which were also presented by The Countess.

A British Wheelchair Basketball spokesman said the Countess had met with members of the organisation as well as the University of Worcester and volunteers during her visit.

"The Countess watched the women’s gold medal match and presented medals to the victorious Germany women’s team," she said.

"She also watched the men’s bronze medal match and the men’s gold medal match where she was able to present the the GB men’s team with their gold medals."

The tournament ran for 10 days from August 28 and saw 19 teams from 12 countries battle it out. The top five men's teams and top four women's teams have earned a place at the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio.