The President and the Taoiseach’s attendance at the coronation of King Charles in Westminster Abbey last Saturday marked a significant milestone in relations between Ireland and Britain.
“It will be the first time since Daniel O’Connell attended Queen Victoria’s coronation in 1838 that the leaders of Irish nationalism have been present at the coronation of a British monarch,” wrote Stephen Collins in these pages before the event, also noting the decision of Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister designate, to undertake the trip.
He believed their presence in London “reflected a sea change in attitude on this island”.
Serious business, so.
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The symbolism and the solemnity of the occasion notwithstanding (Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina are old hands at these things by now), Leo Varadkar and his partner Matthew Barrett had an interesting coronation experience.
Their morning went from Hankiegate to Instagate.
As he entered the abbey and walked up the cloisters with world leaders, the Taoiseach was mortifyingly caught on camera vigorously picking his nose, which was awkward. Although given the location, Leo can take some consolation in the knowledge that it could happen to a bishop.
Members of the congregation had to take their seats long before the service began. What to do?
After a session of heavy-duty celebrity-spotting, the next best thing to do was have a good read through the Coronation Order of Service booklet.
The Taoiseach’s other half certainly did (it ran to 50 very detailed pages) although he must have missed the standard housekeeping announcement printed in red italics on the top of page six: “Members of the congregation are requested kindly to refrain from using cameras, video, or sound recording equipment. Please ensure that mobile phones and other electronic devices are switched off.”
It seems not all the VIP guests complied, including cardiologist Barrett who took the opportunity to lash out a few off-colour live posts on Instagram for the amusement of his private group of more than 350 followers.
He alerted them to his imminent rendezvous with royalty by first posting a photo taken from the Taoiseach’s car in the VIP motorcade as it headed along the Mall.
“Holy shit I think I’m accidentally crowned king of England,” he joked.
Once ensconced in Westminster Abbey, a couple of entries in the Order of Service caught Matthew’s eye.
Here’s the first, from page 38, explaining what will happen between the crowning of Camilla and her enthronement: “The queen’s sceptre and rod are brought from the altar by the Right Rev and Right Hon the Lord Chartres GCVO and the Right Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin CD MBE, Bishop of Dover. The queen touches them in turn.”
Dr Barrett is so tickled by this paragraph he posts a photo of it with a green line around “the queen touches them in turn”. “Sounds like the script to a good night out, tbh,” he quips.
And in the very long list of participants in the king and the queen’s procession, between the Lord High Almoner and the primatial cross of York, he spots the Right Rev James Newcome, a gentleman who rejoices in the title Clerk of the Closet.
Clerk of the Closet? Matthew highlights it in orange and adds, “Had this job until my early 20s,” before pressing send.
And finally, the Taoiseach’s guest at the coronation posts a grainy photograph he has snapped of King Charles wearing his crown. It appears to remind him of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter books.
“Was genuinely half expecting it to shout ‘GRYFFINDOR’”
Really?
Strange behaviour from someone who is there as the guest of the person representing Ireland at this important state occasion and whose presence is seen as a symbolic gesture marking this State’s improved relationship with Britain.
Still. At least the Instagram posts were only sent to Matthew’s private – though not exactly small – circle of 354 followers.
As doctors, Leo and his partner would be aware of the chronic incontinence which afflicts political and media types who routinely experience severe difficulties keeping anything to themselves.
They leak all the time. Can’t help themselves.
[ King Charles officially crowned in Westminster Abbey ceremonyOpens in new window ]
How times have changed. Éamon de Valera declined invitations to attend the coronation of Edward VIII, George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. Newsreel of her coronation in 1953 was not shown in cinemas here because of threats by republicans to bomb any venue that featured it.
Now, Uachtaráin Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are honoured guests at the coronation of Charles III while the Taoiseach’s plus one is sending saucy Instagram gags from Westminster Abbey during the proceedings.
We asked a spokesman if the guest breached protocol by posting on social media during the Coronation service and if, given the context of the occasion, the Taoiseach considered it appropriate.
“We don’t have any such protocol regarding social media,” he said, adding that the department was “double-checking this”.
Nothing was “flagged up”.
There was nothing communicated in the official briefing and in “the communications between the governments” on the use of social media during the ceremony. Issues of significant importance would normally be communicated between the protocol departments.
So no breach of protocol.
But what about the clear instruction in the Order of Service about the use of mobile phones? And even if the briefing diplomats from both sides overlooked the possibility of someone posting on Instagram mid-crowning, it’s hardly respectful behaviour.
With the double-checking on the protocol front ongoing, the Taoiseach’s spokesperson hadn’t “seen anything further” on the matter so couldn’t really comment.
Portrait of punishment
Before the Seanad begins debating Labour Party amendments to the mother and baby homes redress scheme next week, it might be no harm for some members to take a trip to their nearest cinema to watch Sinead O’Shea’s powerful documentary Pray for Our Sinners.
By concentrating on events in one town in Co Meath she paints a picture of Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s when casually vicious corporal punishment was widespread in primary schools and pregnant unmarried women were incarcerated in institutions by a cruel church and complicit community.
O’Shea comes from Navan and filters the story through her own memories of growing up there.
On Monday night in Dublin’s Lighthouse cinema, journalist Ken Early interviewed one of the main contributors about his childhood ordeal at the hands of a violent teacher in a primary school run by a religious order.
Norman Murray’s case, and the wider one against the corporal punishment of children, was taken up by local GPs Paddy and Mary Randles who also stood up for the pregnant girls cast out by the church.
They complained to the authorities locally but got nowhere. Undaunted, they went to the media and finally, the British News of the World published a two-page report in 1969 headlined “Children under the lash” detailing the beatings meted out to youngsters such as Norman.
[ ‘It was always the woman, she was the one, she was the sinner’ ]
But the News of the World never made it to Navan. The delivery van was stopped by priests at Kilcarn Bridge leading to the town. They offloaded the bundles of newspapers and threw them into the river Boyne.
Ken Early wondered why so many kept quiet and said nothing about the abuse of their children.
“All the angry people had left,” Murray replied.
One person who plays a big part in the documentary is the late Fr Andrew Farrell, a handsome and charismatic priest who was a figure of huge authority in Navan. A forward-thinking and dynamic individual in many ways, he did much good work for his community, including setting up the credit union, founding a workers’ co-op and opening a daycare centre.
Yet he also looked the other way on corporal punishment – he cold-shouldered the Randles – and personally drove pregnant and unmarried young women who came to him for advice to grim mother and baby homes at the other end of the country.
Admirers commissioned an expensive portrait of Fr Farrell and it hung in the central hall of the credit union for years until he was moved on by his superiors for asking too many awkward questions about how the church was conducting its business.
The portrait was consigned to a coal shed outside the parochial house until supporters rescued and restored it and put it back on show in the credit union.
And there it remained – until Sinead O’Shea’s documentary went on release three weeks ago. And now it’s gone again, she tells us.
Supermarket squeeze
It’s been a busy week for Fine Gael’s Neale Richmond, the Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise and Trade with responsibly for Employment Affairs and Retail Business.
Neale was to the forefront of the Government’s attempt to put the squeeze on supermarkets and encourage them to stall and reverse rising food prices.
Nobody is quite sure whether he was supposed to be the carrot or the stick.
The Taoiseach told the Dáil that Neale was going in with some stern words for the profit-rich grocers and should they fail to act on them then further, more serious action, possibly of a legislative nature, may be triggered.
After his showdown meeting on Wednesday the big retailers made conciliatory noises and the price of a large sliced pan went down by about 10 cent almost across the board.
But a few token tweaks won’t cut the mustard, not having heard Opposition TDs reading out the known profits made by some of these companies in Ireland (for some reason they are reluctant to disclose the exact enormity of their profits here) where profit margins are much bigger compared to what they make in other European countries.
Neale will have much to ponder in advance of his next meeting with them towards the end of next month. Perhaps he can work on his game plan when pounding the pavements of Wicklow town putting leaflets through letterboxes for his elder brother Graham who has decided to enter politics and hopes to stand for Fine Gael in next year’s local elections.
“I thought he was joking, the first time he said it,” Neale told us during the week.
At a meeting in Mount Street on Tuesday night, the party’s executive council ratified his brother’s appointment as a local area representative.
“If he needs any political coaching I’ll be happy to do it. He’s been my rugby coach at Old Wesley for 10 years so the tables are turned,” says Neale.
The Minister is already doing leaflet drops for Graham, who is 10 years his senior.
Maybe he could hand out a few of them outside the local supermarkets to drive up vote inflation.
