"It was amazing and totally surreal"

Published on 21 May 2018

Victoria Dunn has the hottest ticket in town at the weekend – an invite to the Royal Wedding.

 The University of Sunderland graduate was one of only a select few thousand granted VIP access to the wedding of the year at Windsor Castle on Saturday.

 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle invited more than 2,600 members of the public to their big day.

 The Royal couple were especially keen to recognise those who had committed their lives to charity work, as well as the young people supported in communities across the UK.

 Among those now attending the wedding is University of Sunderland Media Production graduate Victoria Dunn.

 Victoria is Deputy Chief Executive of The Key project, based in Gateshead, which works with 2,500 to 3,000 young people aged 11 to 25 and helps them develop vital life skills.

 Victoria, from Hebburn, South Tyneside, said: “The wedding was amazing, the whole place was electric.

“We were really treated like special people, we had special badges and we all got wedding goodie bags.

“We were sat on the grass directly opposite the entrance to the chapel and we had a picnic there.

“We saw all the celebrities like George Clooney, David Beckham, Sir Elton John and James Corden.

“Prince Harry and Prince William walked across in front of us to the entrance to the chapel, and we saw Meghan and her mother in the wedding car as well as Charlotte and George waving in their car window.

"It was an amazing, surreal day."

 The charity, based on Gateshead’s Team Valley, was one of 26 who benefited from the Charitable Gift Fund following the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding on 29 April, 2011. The following year, the Duchess visited the project during a trip to the region.

 Since then, the initiative has been on the Royal radar and, when the Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear nominated them as a potential wedding invitee, they were flattered but unconvinced they would be making the trip to Windsor.

 Victoria, who graduated from the University in 2005, had just returned from a holiday in Turkey when Hannah sent her the late text saying the invite was in the post.

Victoria added: “We were all so excited, all I could think about was what I was going to wear.”

 The Key aims to help thousands of young people plan and design their own projects with support from trained staff.

 Victoria added: “We believe all young people have the power to be great. It’s crucial we work together to make sure they believe it too. This is what we are all about - young people taking responsibility for what matters most and experiencing the rewards of self-discovery and personal development.”

 A statement from Kensington Palace explained that both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were keen to recognise young people who have served their communities and shown strong leadership. So, in preparation for the wedding, they asked Lord Lieutenants around the UK to invite 1,200 people to join the celebrations inside the grounds of Windsor Castle.

To learn more about The Key, visit their website here

 Victoria added: “I loved my time at the University of Sunderland, it was fantastic fun when I was there between 2002 and 2005.”