King William was certainly a member of the House of Orange but was he an Orangeman? When it emerged that he was to meet the Pope this week, David Trimble attracted the inevitable abuse from fellow Orangemen who view the Pope as the Devil incarnate. He replied cockily: "I wouldn't be the first Orangeman to meet a Pope."
Who was he referring to? One suggestion was William of Orange. While Pope Innocent XI blessed William's marriage to his cousin Mary, Protestant daughter of the Catholic James II - and, being anti-French, he certainly supported their campaign in Ireland - Quidnunc thinks it unlikely that these allies ever met. Other Orangemen who met the Pope were members of the Irish regiments who fought in Italy during the second World War and were entertained to a reception in the Vatican after the liberation of Rome. Most were from the Republic but many were Ulstermen and some were Orangemen. It is said that one man from Omagh met Pius XII in full Orange regalia and that others wore the sash under their uniforms. Trimble ended up in the Vatican with a party of other Nobel laureates. At least, it was being said in some informed and witty Orange circles, if that's not a contradiction in terms, there wouldn't be a row about whether or not he should wear a mantilla.