St Patrick’s Day celebrations with Princess of Hanover
From left to right, Mark Armstrong, Peter K. Murphy and his wife Jacqueline, The Princess of Hanover, Author Flor MacCarthy, Anne-Marie Boisbouvier Ambassador of Monaco and Permanent Delegate to U.N.E.S.C.O and Paula Farquharson, Director of the Princess Grace Irish Library - ©Michael Alesi - Prince's Palace
As it does every year, the Princess Grace Irish Library celebrated Ireland’s patron saint on St. Patrick’s Day.
The Princess Grace Irish Library put on its traditional harp concert, followed by an exclusive meeting between the Princess of Hanover and Flor MacCarthy, Irish writer and author of the best-seller ‘The Presidents’ Letters – An Unexpected History of Ireland’, which details the correspondence of nine Presidents since 1938, when the first was elected.
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On this occasion, of particular interest was the correspondence between the Presidents of Ireland and the Princesses of Monaco, including a letter from Princess Caroline to President de Valera in January 1962, when she was just five years old. The missive followed a visit to the Irish National Stud by Prince Rainier III and his family in June 1961. During the state visit, President de Valera presented Princess Caroline with an Irish pony named ‘Babbling Brook’.
The conference, presented by Flor MacCarthy, also touched on the link between the Princely Family and the different Irish Presidents through their correspondence, and underlined the deep friendship between Ireland and the Principality of Monaco to this day. The celebration was accompanied by a much-appreciated concert by four harpists, students of the Académie Rainier III, as well as theatrical readings from Flor MacCarthy’s book by actors from the Monaco-Ireland Arts Society.