CÉAD MÍLE FÁILTE, YOUR MAJESTY

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A Chairde,

The following is a copy of the Editorial published in the July 2010 issue of ‘Ireland’s Genealogical Gazette’ – the monthly newsletter of the Genealogical Society of Ireland. The article was taken up by two major newspapers in Ireland the ‘Sunday Independent’ (July 11th) and by the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ (July 12th). It was also taken up by ‘The Phoenix’ magazine (July 16th – 29th).

The matter was also extensively discussed on Irish radio programmes during the month with the prospect of a State Visit by the UK’s Queen Elizabeth receiving a general welcome across the country.

‘CLASH OF THE HARPS’

British Royal Visit to Ireland & Heraldry

With the possibility of a State Visit to the Republic next year by the UK’s Queen Elizabeth, it appears that a very warm ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ will be extended to Her Majesty.

However, Mr. Charles Kidd, certainly raised eyebrows and possibly howls of laughter around Irish breakfast tables when he spoke on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland programme (25.06.10) of the correct royal etiquette that should be observed during the visit. No doubt listeners to this popular radio programme were relieved to hear that ‘the sweeping bows of history are gone’ but for gentlemen a ‘nod from the neck’ and for ladies a ‘bob’ or curtsy was the correct way to greet Britain’s monarch.

Evidently the editor of Debrett’s believes that royal etiquette, no matter how anachronistic, travels with the monarch when visiting foreign countries and should be observed by others. No doubt then, when King Bumibol Adulyadej of Thailand paid a State Visit to the UK in 1960 and indeed, when Japan’s Emperor Akihito did likewise in 1998, British officials greeted the latter with a bow from the waist and approached the former on their knees during those State Visits. Surely Mr. Kidd is aware that neither bowing nor curtsying are appropriate for citizens of republics like Ireland or the United States.

Not content with having the citizens of our Republic bowing and curtsying, Mr. Kidd advised us against firm handshakes with the queen and, recalling the ‘transgression’ by US First Lady Michelle Obama, warned us off touching the royal personage. Reminiscent of the hullabaloo in 1992 caused by the then Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, putting his arm around the queen. Well Mr. Kidd needn’t worry as most Irish citizens fully appreciate the historic and political significance of the State Visit to Ireland.

It was Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, George V, who was the last British monarch to visit Dublin in July 1911. Her own father, George VI, in 1949 became the last British ‘King of Ireland’ when the twenty-six counties of the Republic were declared to be ‘no longer a part of His Majesty’s dominions’ in accordance with the UK’s Ireland Act, 1949. This was the British government’s response to the Irish government’s ‘Declaration of the Republic’ and Ireland leaving the British Commonwealth in April 1949.

The British monarchs were already deprived of any domestic function in Ireland thirteen years previously when De Valera took the opportunity of the abdication of Edward VIII, over his wish to marry Mrs. Simpson, to amend the constitution. Indeed, opinion is still divided over whether the External Relations Act of 1936 was actually necessary to give effect to the succession of George VI in the Irish Free State given that the 1542 Act ‘that the King of England, his Heirs and Successors, be Kings of Ireland’ was already on the Irish Statute Book and only repealed in 1962. The 1542 Act made Henry VIII ‘King of Ireland’ and he duly adopted the heraldic symbol of his new realm—azure a harp or stringed argent—and included this on the Royal Arms.

The British Royal Arms still retain the blue shield with the golden harp symbolising Ireland as part of the realm despite the declaration in the UK’s Ireland Act of 1949. In 1945 the Irish adopted the golden harp on a blue shield as the Arms of Ireland. These Arms are used by the State and by the President of Ireland.

The UK Royal Arms were altered to reflect the political realities in 1801 to remove the Arms of France and in 1837 to remove those of the Kingdom of Hanover. As flags and symbols have always been controversial in our shared history, therefore, if this upcoming State Visit is supposed to represent a ’maturing’ of the relationship between the UK and Ireland, then is it too much to expect that this growing friendship and mutual respect be reflected heraldically by the UK?

‘Ireland’s Genealogical Gazette’ (July 2010)
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/46150860/

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NOTE: It is reported that a visit by the British monarch will take place during the month of May 2011. (Feb. 12, 2011)