I'm an ideas factory: Prince Andrew

Prince Andrew established Pitch@Palace following his decision to step down as the UK's special trade representative in 2011. Photo / Getty Images

He has earned himself the nickname of 'Air Miles Andy' thanks to his catalogue of overseas trips but it seems that the Duke of York's opinion of himself is far from that.

Prince Andrew has described himself as an "ideas factory" in a new interview discussing his "friendly Dragons' Den" project, reports the MailOnline

Speaking to the Sunday Times the Queen's son, and seventh in line to the throne, said that he is the "entrepreneur-in-residence" at Buckingham Palace due to his business acumen.

He likens his role at the palace to that of Prince Albert in the Industrial Revolution, claiming he is doing the same for the digital revolution.

But while Andrew, 57, certainly considers his role to be important, he also considers himself to be an equal within society.

He added: "We're all cogs in a huge big bloody machine, yeah? Some of us have the advantage of being able to activate more cogs than other people. That is it."

The father-of-two was speaking in capacity of his latest project Pitch@Palace the Dragons' Den-type initiative he set up to help budding entrepreneurs.

Andrew established Pitch@Palace following his decision to step down as the UK's special trade representative in 2011.

His twice-yearly event, which links British technology firms with investors, has helped raise funds for hundreds of start-ups since 2014 and seen several notable successes.

He has taken the scheme overseas, most recently to China, where he held a 'boot camp' for aspiring businesses in the communist state.

The Pitch@Palace scheme was set up to give entrepreneurs "the opportunity to meet the people who can help make their business dreams become a reality".

The Duke of York was the fourth busiest royal with 112 days of public engagements in 2016, also travels the world representing the Queen at public expense.