The British ambassador to Ireland, Sir Andrew Gilchrist, encouraged the Department of External Affairs to formally rebuke RTE over a "scurrilous" reference to Princess Margaret on The Late Late Show in 1968, but the approach from the British was to be kept secret, according to Cabinet papers released under the 30-year rule in London yesterday.
Sir Andrew found senior officials at the Department of External Affairs "united" in deploring an interview with two IRA representatives, Cathal Goulding (who was buried on Thursday) and Richard Behal, about the IRA, violence, British naval visits and Princess Margaret.
In a letter to Roland Hunt, assistant under-secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, dated April 23rd, 1968, Sir Andrew wrote that references to Princess Margaret related to her not being a person "but a political symbol" were made all the more disagreeable by a "(deliberate?) slip of the tongue in referring contemptuously to `her husband Townsend"'. [She did not marry Capt Peter Townsend, who was divorced, in deference to her family's wishes.]
Behal claimed on the show that he had fired shots at a British warship in an Irish port (Waterford) and that during Princess Margaret's earlier visit to Ireland he had cut down trees in her path.
Sir Andrew noted however, that the "compere", Gay Byrne, "did mention at one point the Irish found the British navy quite a convenient thing to have around their coasts in the event of an Irish air disaster".
Following an "agitated" telephone call from Lord de Vesci, a relative of Princess Margaret, Sir Andrew conceded that it was better not to take the matter further. The matter was raised with "McCann" at the Department of External Affairs, and in a further letter on the programme dated April 30th, 1968, Sir Andrew informed the FCO that a formal rebuke was being "meted out to the television authorities. I daresay this is useful and may be helpful for the future, but we should not assume that the position with regard to a possible visit by Princess Margaret has been made any easier".