The eyes of the world will focus on St Andrews as it plays a role in the royal wedding festivities being beamed to an estimated television audience of two billion.
The royal wedding marks the culmination of a decade-long courtship born among the romantic spires of St Andrews.
The picturesque university town has been thrust firmly into the global spotlight as Prince William and Kate Middleton perhaps its most famous former inhabitants prepare to tie the knot.
A worldwide television audience will watch coverage of the town’s celebrations. Over the last few days, representatives of media outlets from every corner of the planet have descended on St Andrews.
With the waiting finally over, the eyes of the world will be trained on a settlement previously best known as the Home of Golf.
Global interest in the royal nuptials has been growing for some time and, when former students Wills and Kate returned to the town in February, it was as if every single press photographer and film crew was determined to capture the moment.
Worldwide fascination with the couple has only grown in the months since that visit, and locals are again gearing up for a media invasion today.
Celebrations are planned throughout St Andrews and by far the biggest will be staged at St Salvator’s Quad. Camera crews from all over the world have booked in for the event, which will feature a dazzling array of early-morning entertainment.£600m benefitUp to 2000 lucky ticket-holders will then watch on big screens as, some 465 miles away in Westminster Abbey, the pair begin married life together.
Having lived with a student prince in their midst for years, one might imagine the people of St Andrews would be quite used to all the media attention. In fact, after Prince William arrived as a fresher in 2001, he was allowed to lead a relatively private life.
The media respected calls to heed his privacy even when a rather shy but very pretty brunette started to appear on his arm at various university functions and out and about in the town.
By the time the pair graduated in 2005 the young prince with an honours degree in geography and Miss Middleton with an honours degree in history of art they were firmly an item.
The knock-on effects of the regal wedding are likely to last long after the final scrap of bunting is cleared away. Indeed, tourism experts predict the global exposure will benefit the UK to the tune of a mind-boggling £600 million. A significant proportion of that spend is likely to focus on St Andrews.
Patrick Laughlin, a former chief executive of the Kingdom of Fife Tourist Board and now manager of the St Andrews Partnership, admits the appetite for all things related to the Fife town in recent days has been “unprecedented.”
He predicts that the benefits from the royal couple’s association with the town will last for years.
Mr Laughlin said, “I cannot remember anything quite like it the benefits will be enormous.”
There is no doubt William and Kate enjoyed their time in St Andrews and the extravagant celebrations will demonstrate just how much that means to the people of the small coastal town whose name is set to be spoken around the world.