Duke Looks Back On St Andrews Education

The Duke of Cambridge has been speaking about his education at the University of St Andrews.

Prince William is the Patron of the university’s 600th anniversary fundraising campaign and addressed a gala benefit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last night, which he attended with the Duchess of Cambridge.

The Duke and Duchess both graduated in 2005 and were met on the steps of the museum last night by a welcoming party of US-based St Andrews alumni wearing traditional red gowns.

The Duke told guests: “It goes without saying to all of you in this room that the education we received there was first class.

“Louise University Principal Professor Louise Richardson, you may need to close your ears at this point but it's often said by the undergraduates of St Andrews that you leave the university in either one of two states: either married or an alcoholic.

“Fortunately for Catherine and me we ended up married. But for those of you who are parents of undergraduates right now, I give you one tip: ask your son or daughter over the holidays if they know what Ma Bells is. If they answer yes, perhaps remove their wine glass out of reach.

“St Andrews’ blend of academic excellence, mixed with a liberal approach to critical thought and creative reasoning, is one that both our nations, on both sides of the Atlantic, credit with importance.

“In particular, St Andrews exists at the pinnacle of a noble Scottish tradition of intellectual freedom and the nurturing – in fact, I would say, flourishing – of arts and science. It feels like a place where no truth goes unquestioned and where there is much more discovering to be done in the world.

“I imagine that this sense of the unchartered planet, of upturning old truth, resonates particularly strongly here in the New World. It's extraordinary, when you come to think about it, how a 600 year old institution can do this.

“I hope you are all very proud of your support and of your links to St Andrews. Throughout its long history, St Andrews has been blessed with the support of loyal graduates, friends and supporters. It falls to us, now, to continue that proud tradition.”

More than 450 guests attending helped raise over $3.4 million, or £2.2million, which is being hailed as a major boost to St Andrews’ efforts to provide financial aid to students who might otherwise be unable to attend university.

The University’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson said:

“We need this endowment so that future leaders of the University can invest in an unfashionable idea, can recruit brilliant but impecunious students, can retain star researchers, and buy time for promising young scholars.

“We are the third most highly ranked university in the UK, in the top 1% globally, and we have done this on a shoe string. Just imagine what we could do with an endowment.”

As the Royal couple left the event to head back to the UK, guests stood and applauded spontaneously. There was even a gift for Prince George, Professor Richardson thanked the couple for their unfailing support presented them with miniature St Andrews red gown for him.