A Cambridge Big Issue vendor has credited Prince William with inspiring him to overcome drug addiction following an emotional royal visit in 2022 that came just months after his mother’s death.
Eamonn Kelly, 52, who sells the magazine on Trinity Street in central Cambridge, met the Prince and Princess of Wales during their tour of modular homes constructed for homeless individuals by Jimmy’s Cambridge charity on June 23, 2022.
The Belfast-born vendor revealed that the royal encounter served as a crucial turning point in his decade-long battle with addiction, helping him achieve and maintain sobriety for over two years.
Royal Visit Came at Critical Moment
Kelly’s meeting with the future King occurred during a particularly vulnerable period, as his mother had passed away just four months earlier in February 2022.
“I’d just lost my mum that February, but when I met William it pulled me out of wallowing and got me motivated,” Kelly told the Daily Mail.
The vendor credited the 45-minute conversation with the royal couple at his modular home as the catalyst for his recovery.
I realised I had to get these drugs out of my system. Since then, I’ve not touched anything,” Kelly revealed, confirming he has maintained complete sobriety since the 2022 encounter.
Down-to-Earth Royal Connection
During the June 2022 visit, Kelly invited William and Kate into his modular home at Christ the Redeemer Church on Newmarket Road, where they spent significant time chatting on his sofa.
The vendor praised the royal couple’s genuine approach during their visit to the innovative housing project.
They’re down to earth people, they’re very genuine, they’re interested in you as a person, not your past or your future,” Kelly said at the time.
Mark Allan, chief executive of Jimmy’s Cambridge, confirmed the royals were “genuinely interested in tackling homelessness” during their visit to the charity’s facilities.
From Rough Sleeping to Recovery
Kelly had been sleeping rough and battling addiction for a decade before moving into one of Jimmy’s modular homes in 2020.
The innovative housing units, among the first of their kind in Britain, provide small self-contained independent accommodation for those transitioning from homelessness.
Cambridge became one of the first UK cities to explore modular homes as a solution to the homelessness crisis, with Jimmy’s now operating 22 such units across four sites in the city.
“Living there gave me a purpose to get up in the morning,” Kelly explained about his modular home experience.
Palace Garden Party Reunion
The following year, Kelly was among 8,000 people invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party in honour of King Charles’s coronation in May 2023.
During the prestigious event, he experienced an unexpected reunion with Prince William.
“It was brilliant, William pushed his way through the crowds to come and shake my hand,” Kelly told the Big Issue after the meeting.
The vendor described feeling privileged by the invitation, stating: “I’ve come from the bottom right up to the top, coming off the streets after years and years and getting back to normality.
Precedent for Homewards Programme
William’s 2022 Cambridge visit preceded his launch of the ambitious Homewards programme in June 2023, a five-year initiative to eliminate homelessness across six UK pilot locations.
The programme now encompasses over 100 projects and has recently entered what the Prince termed “delivery mode” in its second year of operation.
In correspondence marking Homewards’ second anniversary, William acknowledged homelessness as a “complex and unpredictable” challenge while expressing gratitude to coalition partners.
“I know this is a mammoth challenge and change won’t come overnight, but over the past year we’ve started to shift the dial,” the Prince stated.
Continued Big Issue Service
Kelly, who has sold the Big Issue in Cambridge for 13 years, continues his daily presence on Trinity Street despite considering a career change to support work.
I’m thinking of going to do mentoring with a charity to help people with drugs and alcohol,” he revealed, expressing a desire to help others facing similar challenges.
The vendor frequently shares his recovery story at corporate events and with charities, advocating for modular homes and addiction support services.
“I want to get people off drugs and alcohol before they start because it’s the road to nowhere,” Kelly stated.
Jimmy’s Cambridge Legacy
Jimmy’s Cambridge, which opened in 1995 as the city’s first all-year-round night shelter, continues to provide crucial support to people experiencing homelessness.
The charity offers 25 single en-suite bedrooms for rough sleepers, along with specialised support services including mental health assistance and addiction recovery programmes.
Chief Executive Natasha Davies noted that while the charity celebrates 30 years of service in 2025, “sadly the need is more prevalent than ever.
The organisation’s modular homes project, launched in 2019, has been recognised as groundbreaking, with research from the University of Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research confirming positive impacts for residents.
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