Kerry locals welcome the visit of the royal couple to the Kingdom

WITH the visit of Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles only a number of weeks away, we here at The Kerryman took to the streets of Tralee to find out what public opinion is like ahead of the historic visit.

We stopped and talked to close to 40 people last Thursday and the result is overwhelmingly positive, with many locals welcoming the British royal couple to Tralee and the wider Kerry area.

Our questions were simple: we wanted to know how people were feeling ahead of the visit, what the visit would mean to the county as a whole and, finally, where in Kerry would locals recommend the couple to visit.

“I think it’s really exciting. I think it shows progression with the royal family. It all started with the Queen’s visit here a couple of years ago, it’s now continued with Harry and Meghan set to mini-moon here in Ireland. I think all of this shows a nice bridge between both Ireland and England,” said Maeve Burke,” speaking on Thursday.

“I would definitely recommend that they head to Dingle, Portmagee, Waterville and, of course, Tralee. I think it’ll massively boost tourism here. I’ll 100 per cent come out to see them,” she finished.

Robert Falvey is a Tralee local and although he admits that he is not as interested in the Windsors as others are, he can see the benefit of the couple visiting Kerry.

“I think they should head to Dingle and ‘The West End’ bar in Fenit because I used work there,” he laughed.

Claire O’Reilly and her sister Una Brick were out enjoying the sunshine in Tralee Town Park when we questioned them.

“Of course I think Charles would love Kerry because he’s a naturalist and he’s very big into the environment. The scenery and the parks that we have here in the county, I think that he’d love them,” said Una.

“Ballyseedy Woods would be lovely for them to visit. The journey from Killarney to Ballyvourney that we did yesterday, that was stunning and, of course the McGillycuddy Reeks as well,” Una continued.

Marie Burke was busy canvassing in the Abortion Referendum on The Mall when we stopped to talk to her and she said that she was “absolutely delighted” that the royals could be visiting Kerry soon.

“I think it’s a fantastic thing for the whole of Kerry and, hopefully, Charles won’t just go to Killarney and that he’ll make his way to Tralee as well,” said Marie.

“It’ll be absolutely brilliant for Kerry tourism. It’s a hand of friendship, especially with Brexit coming in soon. We could either be alienated or we could develop even stronger bonds between the UK and Ireland.

“On the whole, I think it’ll be good for the people of Kerry. It’ll be historic, a brilliant occasion. I would definitely recommend they visit Tralee, Dingle, Killarney, Kenmare and I think Cahersiveen too,” she finished.

All photos by Fergus Dennehy. Claire O’Reilly pictured with her sister Una Brick in Tralee Town Park on Thursday afternoon; both sisters are welcoming the forthcoming visit of the British royal couple.

ABOVE: Christina Queeley, Nuala Cavanagh and Mona Cody say they are very excited about the visit.

LEFT: Marie Burke says that the visit will be a great feather in the cap of Tralee and Kerry tourism.

RIGHT: Maeve Burke is a Tralee native who is working as a teacher in Cahersiveen. Maeve said that she is very excited about the prospect of an upcoming visit to Tralee and Kerry and that she sees it as a sign of “progression”.

LEFT: Tralee’s Robert Falvey pictured outside the ‘House of Coffee’ shop on Milk Market Lane on Thursday morning. Robert says that he would recommend that the British royal couple try to visit Fenit when they are here.