Cambridges follow Queen with historic visit to Ireland
Royal couple remember Irish freedom fighters in fresh attempt to build on mood of reconciliation
AS THEY embarked on their first official tour of Ireland yesterday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge followed in the Queen’s footsteps by paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the battle for Irish independence.
The couple stood quietly, heads bowed, during a moving ceremony at the city’s garden of remembrance.
A wreath laid at the memorial featured a message in the Duke’s distinctive hand and signed by both, reading: “May we never forget the lessons of history as we continue to build a brighter future together.”
The symbolic moment was made possible only by the Duke’s grandmother, who in May 2011 brought a century of Anglo-irish tension to an end by paying her first visit to Ireland.
The Duke and Duchess hope to continue her legacy by using their threeday visit to “build on the theme of remembrance and reconciliation”.
They had arrived at Dublin Airport – on a whistle-stop tour of the city, Co Meath, Co Kildare and Galway – on a commercial Aer Lingus flight, disembarking into brilliant winter sunshine to be met by Britain’s ambassador to Ireland, Robin Barnett.
The Duchess looked stylish in an emerald green Catherine Walker coat and an Alessandra Rich dress, accessorised with a £17,300 pair of Asprey London daisy heritage earrings.
The couple were whisked straight to Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park to meet Michael D Higgins, the president, and his wife Sabina, 75.
They went for a “tête-àtête” in the president’s private office before sitting down for afternoon tea in the drawing room with Mr and Mrs Higgins, Mr Barnett, Adrian O’neill, the Irish ambassador to the UK, and Simon Case, the Duke’s private secretary.
But when they stepped outside, it was the president’s Bernese Mountain dog Brod who stole the show, bounding up to the royal guests. At the garden of remembrance, the couple paid a private tribute to Ireland’s freedom fighters during a minute’s silence, which was followed by a Piper’s Lament and Last Post.
The pair went on to meet Leo Varadkar, the outgoing Taoiseach, and later headed to a reception at the city’s Guinness Storehouse. There, the Duke joked about following his grandmother to the pub. “In coming to the Guinness Storehouse, we are retracing the footsteps of my grandmother, who was shown how to pour the perfect pint here in 2011,” he told guests.
“It is not often that I find myself following the Queen to a pub! But I am looking forward to testing the theory that Guinness tastes even better in Ireland than overseas.”
The Duke joked about unwittingly “spreading” the coronavirus, asking a paramedic about whether he thought media coverage of the illness was “being a little hyped up”. A royal source said last night the couple were following guidance from Public Health England and the Department of Health and that meant “business as usual” for now.
‘May we never forget the lessons of history as we continue to build a brighter future together’