By Marcella GALLACE
When the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton walked straight up to Jessica Hunt-Bullock and greeted the beaming 16-year-old in front of Sydney’s Opera House, Jessica’s heart missed a beat or two in excitement. Her bucket list also got shorter.
Ever since the royal wedding in 2011, Jessica has been a fan of the royal family. Having just hit her teens at the time, Jessica wasn’t interested in what most teens were absorbed by - One Direction or Justin Bieber.
Instead she was captivated by the generosity of the Royals. “They’re just amazing, with all the charity work they do, they’re like normal people,” Jessica beams. This sparked a keen interest that promoted the teen to follow the Royals via social media ever since.
Jessica met Kate during the 10-day Australian tour that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made earlier this year. Aware that Prince William and Princess Kate would visit the Sydney Opera house while touring Sydney, Jessica and her grandmother Mary Hunt set out to get a glimpse of the couple.
“We arrived at Circular Quay at about 10 o’clock and went to the Opera House to find out what was happening. They said gates would open at 11:30am...when they did open, everyone started charging to get a good spot.”
Jessica and her grandmother secured prime positions, standing at the front of the crowd. It was an eight hour wait before the royals arrived and much friendly talk was exchanged with other fans to fill the time.
“A lot of waiting in the sun and drinking lots of water, people were fainting around us,” Jessica explains.
But the moment finally came, “We knew they were here [at the Opera House] because we could hear other crowds cheering ‘Kate!’ and ‘William!’” Jessica says. “When they finally came out everyone was screaming... lucky I was in the right spot because they completely skipped the left side of the Opera House.”
Kate walked directly towards Jessica who was holding a present, asking "who's this for?"
Before Jessica could finish the energetic Kate continued: "Is it for all of us? Let me open it, oh wow look at that, what a generous person! Did you put it together?"
Funnily enough the present was passed up to Jessica from the back of the crowd, but it was enough to catch Kate's eye and kindle Jessica's dream of meeting the princess.
"I told Kate the present was passed upto us from the back of the crowd,” Jessica laughs. “I couldn’t lie to the Princess!”
In the meantime, Jessica filmed the entire experience on her Iphone, footage that Chanel Nine News aired that same day with permission from Jessica.
Jessica recounts: “After the royal wedding, I was like wow...hopefully one day I will be able to meet Kate and William and hello, I met them!”
“It was the most amazing experience of my life.” That’s one important tick off the bucket list.
VIDEO CREDIT: JESSICA HUNT-BULLOCK