Media from across the world have been gathering in St Andrews as excitement mounts for the royal wedding next Friday.
Reporters and photographers from all over the globe have been in the town, where Prince William and Kate Middleton met at university.
Local schoolchildren are among the many who have been interviewed, photographed and filmed ahead of the big day, which is to be celebrated in the town with an open-air party.
Pupils at four local schools Canongate, Greyfriars and Lawhead primary schools and New Park School and St Andrews Nursery have been busy making bunting and decorations for the party venue, St Salvator’s Quad.
They have also drawn and coloured hundreds of pictures, which they showed to crews from the BBC and ITN.
St Andrews Community Council is helping organise the St Andrews Wedding Breakfast and member Audrey McAnaw said, “We are delighted that so many of the town’s children have joined in wholeheartedly with the spirit of the royal wedding.
“The quality of their artwork is inspirational and it will enhance the whole occasion on April 29. It was a real bonus for them when the TV cameras turned up.”
St Andrews University, where William studied geography and Kate art history, has also been buzzing with media interest. Journalists from as far afield as the US, Canada, China, Brazil, Australia, Japan and Russia have flown in to provide news reports and make documentaries about the wedding and the town where the romance began.
Over the past month the university’s press office has dealt with visits from almost 100 TV crews and over 2000 calls from journalists. Among the most well-known TV shows to have made contact are the Today Show and Entertainment Tonight, which have daily audiences of over 30 million.
To cope with the level of demand for academics, the press office has recorded one set of interviews which have been made available for all.
Communications director Niall Scott said, “We expected a large volume of interest in the university and the town in the run-up to the 29th and it has certainly lived up to expectations.
“There seems to be a rule that the further you go from St Andrews the greater the excitement and media interest in William and Catherine. America appears to be eating, sleeping and drinking the royal wedding at present and the excitement of some of the TV crews during their visits here has been palpable.
“Australian TV are planning to fly their weather presenter to St Andrews to broadcast a live weather report from here on the day of the wedding, and others have invested thousands to travel to Scotland to film reports here.
“It’s been an interesting experience for us and we hope that the town, Fife and Scotland will benefit from the heightened international profile this has brought.
“The university already generates over £300 million for the Fife and Scottish economies every year and media interest in the part played by Scotland in the royal romance can only add to that.”