How often is it that you find yourself in Scotland, at the exact same University the Prince of England and his fiancé first met, on the day that these two return for the first time since their graduation? Not very often, I assure you. And yet the entire city was in an uproar (ok, we are such a small city that it wasn’t quite an UPROAR, but merely a small chaotic crowd) because Prince William and Kate Middleton were arriving to celebrate the 600^th birthday of their alma mater, St Andrews University. Despite the fact that no one knew exactly at what time the royal couple were going to exit the quad & therefore say hello to the general public, Erin & I took a leap of faith and walked over to the Uni quad around noon.

Disclaimer: Yes father, Erin & I were thinking the ENTIRE time how not only your “Cavanagh luck” of precision & determination ALWAYS places you at the right spot at the right time. We had no choice but to think of how wrongly we went about the entire event and how persistent you would have been to shake the hand of the next sovereign in line. So, as you continue please do not disown us as your children.

My entire street has been blocked off for days, so we felt it was a safe guess to follow now only the barricades but also the police and crowd. To our huge regret of not camping out at 9am (as my father would have insisted), we found ourselves at the BACK of a huge cluster of people RIGHT as we heard bagpipes and a succession of cheers. We were there, standing 10 feet away from the ROYAL COUPLE, literally hearing people yell “Kate’s in a red dress!” & “He shook my hand!”, and yet having absolutely NO view to this historical event. (Dad, don’t pass out). So, seeing as how our little selves were NEVER going to battle the crowd, we thought it was a smart plan to secure a spot next to the barricaded street so that when the couple does their obligatory round of shaking hands, we would be primarily placed. Yet, to our even worse luck, they went THE OTHER way down the street shaking hands and ignoring screams of “ABDICATE!” & “Princes kill children” from the scary looking individuals amongst the crowd.

But, to our own credit, while many people were abandoning their stations in disappointment, we noticed that the police were still sticking around and ensuring that no one overtook the barricade. This became an obvious sign that EVENTUALLY the couple had to double around and head our way. Plus, it is the only direction that leads out of town, thus ensuring that it was necessary to pass us to escape St. Andrews. After a half hour of waiting and admiring the yellow Scottish speaking policeman, we begin to hear cheering & I get my high speed camera to start. In the blink of an eye, three range rovers pass and the crowd disperses. WITHIN MOMENTS! Erin & I didn’t even know what had happened before the realization that we just saw the Prince in a range rover pass by. LUCKILY I had my camera on a setting that caught second by second frame and upon a second glance it caught a picture of what I can assume is the Prince chilling in his SUV. I am attempting now to create a “movie/slideshow” of sorts that shows the movement of the three cars, but for now this is the picture that I am happy to assume is the Prince himself (:

To my Pure jealousy & resentment: After the crowd disperses we find our friend Mike and he continues to tell us that “on his way to find the financial building, I saw a crowd and thought I might as well go see what it is.” He then “finds himself” front row to the barricade that nearly 10minutes later the prince passes by within five feet of him. The prince shook the hand of the guy directly next to Mike. WOOOOOW MICHAEL! I AM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU! He even forgot his camera… the world is not fair.