It could have been a Mills & Boon kind of moment - the country girl finally meets the handsome lord of the manor. Anne Sherry has never forgotten the young boy who sat in the back of the Rolls. "I used to run out and open the gates for the car to pass through," she tells Henry, Lord Mount Charles. He looks bashful. "Do you remember? It was 30 years ago," she prompts. "My parents worked on the estate of Lough Fea House in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan." He nods and they chat away, recalling other days. Tonight he's dressed like a huzzar in an Issey Miyake coat: "I get kind of bored wearing dinner jackets," says Lord Henry.
We're at the Shelbourne for the great hotel's 175th birthday. It's a gala event. Trays of oysters and glasses of champagne move through the guests, all in evening wear.
Publisher John O'Connor assures us that Liam Neeson is on the premises, but he's nowhere to be found. Perhaps, he slipped out through the back kitchen, feeling engulfed in the sea of bright silks, satins and black dinner jackets that are filling the great reception hall. So, we are unable to "point" Yvonne Boyle, a recruiter for the hotel industry, in the star's direction.
Other guests enjoying the party include Albert Reynolds en famille; watercolour artist Susan Morley, blond John Ryan of VIP magazine and science teacher Emer Kinsella.
John Cooney, author of the controversial new book on Archbishop John Charles McQuaid book, comes along from his own book launch at the National Museum to exchange his work with writers of The Shelbourne and Its People, Michael O'Sullivan and Bernadine O'Neill.
