Prince’s Cork trip was right royal knees-up
OFFICIALS at Cork City Council required some ‘Dutch courage’ during the royal visit to the rebel county last summer.
New documents obtained by the Irish Mail on Sunday show the council splashed €10,000 on dinner, whiskey, wine and gin for Prince Charles and his wife Camilla.
The 69 guests at the Crawford dinner in June last year made their way through 98 bottles of wine as well as 66 gin and tonics.
The bar bill shows that €660 was spent on 20 bottles of white wine, €420 on 12 bottles of red wine with a further €270 on nine bottles of sparkling wine. The 66 gin and tonics cost a further €462.
The dinner, which was hosted during the visit by the council in the Crawford Gallery Long Room, cost almost €20,000 with harpists, additional security, audiovisual set up and a red carpet adding to the expense.
Guests were served local produce including Ardsallagh goat’s cheese, roast rack of east Cork lamb as well as a selection of Cork farmhouse cheeses.
Included in the bill was a €4,470 bill for tables, chairs and tablecloths. While a further €1,740 was spent on tableware, glasses and cutlery.
It was previously revealed that more than €200,000 was spent by the council on the day-long visit in June 2018 which included an almost €6,000 bill for ‘polishing and lacquering brass door handles, door knobs’ in advance of the visit.
The royal visit also included a trip to the city’s famous English Market and a civic reception at City Hall.