Heartfelt encounter with Prince of Wales inspired man to overcome addiction and homelessness
Prince William is being praised for his quiet but life-changing impact on a man who credits a chance meeting with the royal as the turning point in his battle with addiction.
Eamonn Kelly, a Big Issue vendor from Cambridge, revealed that a brief encounter with the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2022 helped him break free from more than a decade of drug addiction. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Kelly described how the meeting gave him “purpose” at a time when he was struggling with grief after losing his mother.
“I’d just lost my mum,” Kelly said. “But when I met William it pulled me out of wallowing and got me motivated. I realised I had to get these drugs out of my system. Since then, I’ve not touched anything.”
The meeting took place outside Jimmy’s, a Cambridge-based charity providing modular homes for the homeless. William and Catherine, then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were visiting the innovative housing project when they met Kelly, who was living in one of the units at the time.
Kelly recalled the royal couple as “down to earth” and “very genuine,” saying they treated him with compassion and interest. “They’re interested in you as a person—not your past or your future,” he said.
One year later, Kelly was invited to the Buckingham Palace Garden Party, where he was reunited with William. “It was brilliant,” he said. “William pushed his way through the crowds to come and shake my hand.”
Kelly is now clean, advocates for modular housing, and was even invited to Lambeth Palace to speak about the initiative. While he credits The Big Issue for supporting him throughout his journey, he says it was Prince William who gave him the push to change his life.
“They’ve believed in me,” he said. “But meeting William gave me the motivation I needed to start again.”
