Ireland was popular with British royals, until the government started to boycott their parties Eamon de Valera refused an invitation to George's silver jubilee ceremonies because of partition and the "economic war" over land annuities
'OUR HOPE is that they will want to come back to us early and often," an editorial in The Irish Times on July 10th, 1911, said of the arrival of King George V in Dublin for what turned out to be the last visit by a reigning British monarch of the 20th century.
His visit was the fourth to Ireland by a king or queen of the United Kingdom in the first decade of the century. Queen Victoria had come in 1900, her son Edward VII in 1903, 1904 and 1907, and his son George shortly after his coronation in 1911 - the same number of royal visits as had taken place in all of the 19th century.
Victoria had been to Ireland on three previous occasions as queen. In 1849, just after the famine, she landed in Cove (Cobh), in Cork, which was renamed Queenstown after her visit. She subsequently visited Dublin and Belfast. She came again in 1853 and found many of the Irish to be "wretched looking people all in rags" but "amusing" as well as "lively and excitable", according to her diaries.
She returned in August 1861, while still in mourning for her mother who had died five months earlier. She visited Killarney and the Curragh, where her eldest son, later Edward VII, was undergoing military training with the Grenadier Guards (and lost his virginity to an actress called Nellie Clifden).
So her visit in 1900, after almost 40 years, was a major event and came at a pivotal time in Irish politics. The British government was adopting its policy of "killing home rule with kindness"; the land issue that had dominated Irish affairs for about 20 years was coming close to resolution; the split among nationalists over Charles Stewart Parnell was healed; and the separatist movement was making inroads.
The main issue of the day was the Boer War, in which Irishmen were fighting on both sides.
Unionists were delighted at the news of the queen's visit: some were campaigning for the establishment of a royal home in Ireland, like Balmoral in Scotland, which royalty would visit regularly.
Nationalists were divided on the issue, nowhere more so than in Dublin Corporation, which they controlled and which acted as a proxy Home Rule parliament. In a controversial decision, they agreed to welcome "the person of Your Majesty", stopping short of expressing "loyalty".
"Advanced" nationalists opposed the visit and WB Yeats suggested that the anniversary of the Act of Union a century earlier should be marked instead, under the chairmanship of the 70-year-old Fenian John O'Leary. Dublin Corporation tried to redeem itself in the eyes of its nationalist critics by marking the centenary with a debate that provided a platform for attacks on Britain.
Many others saw the visit as primarily a recruiting drive by Victoria for the British army, which was suffering reverses in southern Africa. Writer George Moore, a fierce opponent of the Boer War, described her as coming with "a shilling between her finger and her thumb and a bag of shillings at her girdle".
There was no doubting the extent of the welcome that Victoria received in Dublin, however. "he has never witnessed a more enthusiastic expression of real affection for her person and attachment to her Throne," The Irish Times wrote. Lengthy descriptions in the pro-unionist newspaper of the enthusiastic scenes that greeted her every appearance were mirrored substantially in the reports in the nationalist Freeman's Journal. But the two newspapers, representing the rival political positions, interpreted the welcome differently, while superficially agreeing that it was not entirely political.
The Irish Times suggested that it was an expression of loyalty to the crown - as the queen was the queen of all Irish people, nationalists as well as unionists - but the Freeman's Journal insisted that it merely "vindicated the Irish reputation for kindly and courteous hospitality", especially to "an aged and feeble lady" of 81.
The welcome was downplayed in later times. Speaking on radio about the visit some 60 years later, former president and Fianna Fáil minister Seán T O'Kelly claimed that a large number of nationalist councillors in Dublin were "wheedled" into welcoming the queen; that the visit was marked by frequent protest meetings; decorations were torn down and shop windows with British emblems smashed; and schoolchildren "were made to stand along the edge of the footpath, supplied with little British flag etcetera, and instructed to cheer the queen as she passed by".
While she was in Ireland, an attempt was made by a young anarchist at a Brussels railway station to assassinate the Prince of Wales, who was to become Edward VII the following year after his mother's death.
His first visit to Ireland as king in 1903 coincided with the death of Pope Leo XIII, whom Edward had met some years earlier. Protesters, such as Maud Gonne, draped black petticoats from their houses in unlikely mourning for the pope, but Edward's condolences smoothed his visit to Maynooth College where he was greeted by three archbishops and 20 bishops.
From Dublin, he went by sea to Belfast, Buncrana (for a visit to Derry) and on to Killary harbour where he became the first monarch to visit Connemara. He was greeted in Tully by a banner welcoming the "friend of our pope". He sailed on from Galway to Berehaven and Cork.
On his next visit the following year, he attended four race meetings, two in Punchestown, and one each at the Phoenix Park and Leopardstown. He also laid the foundations for the Royal College of Science on Merrion Street, now Government Buildings, at a ceremony on Leinster Lawn. His statue, the last remaining royal statue in the capital, still stands behind bushes beside the car park for TDs.
Edward returned in 1907. That visit was overshadowed by the theft of the so-called "crown jewels", the bejewelled regalia of the Knights of St Patrick, from a safe in Dublin Castle. He took the robbery as a personal affront and held the Ulster King of Arms, Sir Arthur Vicars, responsible as the person in charge and was instrumental in his dismissal. The robbery was never solved. The chief suspect was Francis Shackleton, Vicars's deputy and brother of the explorer Ernest Shackleton.
George V's visit in 1911 was his first as king but his sixth to Ireland. Following a pattern set by his father, he went to the races, travelled to Maynooth College, and opened the College of Science in Merrion Street.
In later decades, the State shunned royal events. Eamon de Valera, as president of the executive council, refused an invitation to George's silver jubilee ceremonies in London in 1935 because of partition and the "economic war" over land annuities, although the Irish high commissioner in London attended. A garden party organised by the British, Canadian and Australian embassies in Dublin to mark Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 was also boycotted by the Fianna Fáil government of the day. De Valera told the Dáil that partition was the reason.
The policy of boycotting royal events was eventually ended in 1977 by the Fine Gael-Labour government when the foreign minister, Garret FitzGerald, attended a service and reception in St Patrick's Cathedral to mark Queen Elizabeth's silver jubilee.
QUEEN VICTORIA
Visited Ireland four times: in 1849, just after the famine; in 1853 when she found many of the Irish to be "wretched looking people all in rags"; in August 1861 when she visited the Curragh and Killarney; and in 1900, during a period when the British government were trying to
"kill home rule with kindness".
The 1861 visit is captured in these two Irish Times cuttings from that year (left). Her Lakes of Killarney trip proved "pleasurable and successful beyond all anticipation". The 1900 cuttings reflect a warm welcome and an opportunity for sales of the latest hats from London.
EDWARD VII
Edward VII's first visit to Ireland as king in 1903 coincided with the death of Pope Leo XIII; he visited again the following year, when he attended four race meetings, two in Punchestown, and one each at the Phoenix Park and Leopardstown; his 1907 visit was overshadowed by the theft of the so-called "crown jewels", the regalia of the Knights of St Patrick, from a safe in Dublin Castle. In 1903 the visit to Recess in Galway was recorded (below) as a triumph, despite the fact it "was whispered that the people were indifferent to royalty".
GEORGE V
George travelled to Ireland shortly after his coronation in 1911. He went to the races, travelled to Maynooth College, and opened the College of Science in Merrion Street (as recorded in The Weekly Irish Times)