Crowning Diplomacy

I watched the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on CNN at 4:30 a.m. on May 6 at my home in the United States, while also keeping an eye on social media in order to follow Ireland’s reaction to the historic event. Feelings seemed to be mixed, often running along party lines. For example, Ulster Unionist Party Leader Doug Beattie tweeted a video of himself walking to Westminster Abbey, along with a photo of his invitation. Charles is now head of state of Northern Ireland and it is Mr. Beattie’s party’s aim is to keep Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom and to resist an all-Ireland republic. Nevertheless, it was not just the loyalists who were in attendance.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins made history as the first Irish head of state to attend a coronation, despite Ireland’s long history of wresting with the British monarchy, “since (at least) 1135 A.D., when Normans from Britain first landed in Ireland.” Mr. Higgins said the Irish were encouraged not to listen to Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on the radio, 70 years ago. (Indeed, not a single representative of the Irish Republic was in attendance in 1953, after the 26 counties won independence from colonial rule in 1922. Ireland became a constitutional republic in 1937.)

However, he viewed his attendance at the crowning of Charles as an opportunity for diplomacy.

"It is very important in terms of being able to draw the distinction between what is at the top end of the courtesies required of good relations between countries," he said.

The United Kingdom has no written constitution, so the monarchy is a symbol of stability, according to Mr. Higgins. His attendance at a reception at Buckingham Palace before the coronation was the ninth time the leaders had met.

This amicable relationship sets Charles apart from other monarchs.

"He {Charles] has one of the closest relationships with Ireland, certainly in the last decade, than any monarch I can think of in recent centuries," said Marie Coleman, professor of 20th Century history at Queen's University Belfast.

The loss of his great-uncle and close confidant Lord Mountbatten in an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing in County Sligo in 1979, deepened his understanding of the personal pain caused by the Troubles, according to Professor Coleman.

The aims of both the king and the Irish president are forward-looking. Charles is co-patron with Mr. Higgins of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. Also,“To mark the occasion [the coronation], President Higgins has requested that the Tree Council of Ireland plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co. Wicklow, in the King’s honour.” This is in recognition of Charles’s life-long advocacy for environmental sustainability.

Huge oak tree in Muckross House gardens, Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland

In keeping with that same spirit of diplomacy and as a way of showing the world that Ireland should be respected on the world’s stage, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar accepted the invitation to the coronation as well. He said that the relationship between the countries is "a much better one, a much deeper one, one of neighbours and one of equals."

He noted the important connections Ireland has with the United Kingdom, saying:

“We have deep political, economic, cultural, and personal links with Britain, which provided a welcome home to so many of our citizens for generations. A vibrant British community actively contributes to life in Ireland in so many ways. And, of course, there are many people, in the north especially, who are both British and Irish. As we mark the coronation of King Charles III, I look forward to further strengthening British-Irish relations and the friendship between our peoples and look forward to welcoming the royal couple to Ireland in due course."

Charles and Camilla’s visit could occur as early as June. I remember that he visited Ireland in 2022 as Prince Charles because he was photographed with his wife at the Rock of Cashel. I felt a little jealous because that was one of my favorite destinations from my trip with my sister, Stephanie. Charles has also previously visited Ireland privately as a personal friend of the Duke of Devonshire of Lismore Castle in County Waterford.

Still, while Charles has traveled to Ireland often, the most surprising Irish politician who traveled to his coronation might have been Michelle O’Neill. She is the leader of Sinn Féin. She represents Northern Irish nationalists who want a unified Ireland and an end to British rule. Her party is widely believed to have been the political arm of the Irish Republican Army during the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.

Why would a party that doesn’t want monarchy attend the crowning of a king? The answer has to do with the pragmatic role of leadership. Kevin Hargaden of America: The Jesuit Review explains:

Political analysts in Ireland believe Sinn Féin, currently the strongest party in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is using the coronation to demonstrate that it is ready to move into a new phase of its reunification project. By sidestepping reservations individual party members must have about being associated with the pomp and ceremony of a very anti-republican spectacle, Sinn Féin hopes to demonstrate diplomatic gravitas and a mature capacity to lead all Ireland. By attending the coronation, its leaders once again signal that they have left violence behind. The party hopes to show moderate Northern Irish voters who are increasingly alienated by the old binaries of “Nationalist/Catholic/Irish” and “Unionist/Protestant/British” that Sinn Féin can represent them. Party leaders also have an eye on the next general election in the Republic of Ireland, seeking to communicate to the voters in the south that Sinn Féin—led in the Republic by Mary Lou McDonald—is going to transition seamlessly from political opposition to government management.

However, it wasn’t just politicians who made history at the coronation. The Catholic Primate Archbishop Eamon Martin attended the coronation. He is believed to be the first Irish Catholic bishop at such a ceremony since the Reformation of the 16th century. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, was the first Catholic bishop to play a formal role in such a coronation since the Reformation as well, when he blessed King Charles III.

It is believed the last time a cardinal was involved with a coronation ceremony in these islands was in 1543, when Cardinal David Beaton presided at the crowning of a 10-month old Mary Queen of Scots. The last Catholic bishop to attend a coronation was Bishop Stephen Gardiner who placed the crown on Queen Mary’s head in 1553. She was succeeded by Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, who was excommunicated as a “servant of wickedness” in 1570 by Pope Pius V. Catholics, lay or clerical, did not attend Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 as the Church banned attendance at Protestant services. For that reason in 1949 the Irish government, led by Taoiseach John A Costello, remained in their state cars outside Dublin’s St Patrick’s Cathedral as the funeral service for Ireland’s first president Douglas Hyde, a member of the Church of Ireland [Anglican], took place inside.

Also, to show that the United Kingdom is singing a new tune, the Irish language (as well as English, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic) was incorporated into the coronation ceremony for the first time - in a hymn. “Veni, Creator Spiritus.” has been performed at coronations since the 14th century. It is performed in Gregorian chant when the original Latin is used and is attributed to Rabanus Maurus (c780–856), a Frankish Benedictine monk.

The Irish text of the hymn reads:

Go dtí dhíot gurb aithnid dúinn an
tAthair Mhac, a Spioraid, a rún,
Tú leoan Triúr i néinphearsa
Creidimis ionaibh tré bhiotha na mbeatha.

The translation, which is not literal, is:

Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And thee, of both, to be but One.
That, through the ages all along,
This may be our endless song.

Still, while some, especially in Northern Ireland enjoyed the pageantry of the occasion, the ceremony was not enough to overcome negative associations for some Irish citizens. Families of the victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971, iin which the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army killed at least 10 civilians, said that they would be remembering their loved ones, instead of watching the service at Westminster Abbey. The 1916 Societies, (the year of the Easter Rising, which was an armed rebellion against British rule) an all-Ireland group, held a rally “on Lifford Bridge, which links Strabane in Co Tyrone and Lifford in Co Donegal,” to pledge their allegiance to the Irish republic as declared in 1916, at the same time royalists recited the '“homage of the people,” in which they swore an oath of allegiance to Charles during the coronation ceremony.

In The Irish Times, Fintan O’Toole wrote, “The coronation of King Charles III is £100 million [$124,866,000.00] worth of retro-patterned wrapping paper surrounding a much diminished object.” People Before Profit, a political party active in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, criticized RTE, Ireland’s National Broadcast Service Media, for broadcasting the four-hour live event.

Paul Murphy, a Teachta Dála (TD), ( a member of the lower house of Irish Parliament) representing the party, said: “Some republicans are saying they will attend the coronation on the grounds of reaching out to the unionist community, We think it is perfectly possible and necessary to build a united socialist movement of working-class people from Catholic, Protestant and non-religious backgrounds, not on the basis of this sort of anachronistic and hated institution but on the basis of the interests of ordinary people and the need for a socialist Ireland and a socialist world. Even in Britain, only 29 per cent of people think the monarchy is very important. It is an increasingly unpopular institution.”

Another People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett also questioned televising an anachronistic ceremony with public funding while many British citizens live in poverty. However, British citizens of means used the three-day coronation weekend to visit Dublin. According to the travel website Trivago, bookings from Britain rose by 77 percent, even though Dublin is the fourth most expensive European capital city, according to the UK Post Office.

Still, despite the bonds created by travel and statesmanship there were still some small tears in the fabric of diplomacy. The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland reported that a coronation banner was stolen from Dunmurry Orange Hall, just outside of Belfast. This occurred while members of the local lodge, Dunmurry True Blues LOL 1046, were holding their monthly meeting. Also there was some cheeky humor from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s partner, Matthew Barrett. Mr. Barrett ignored the admonition to switch off phones and instead took photos during the service, accompanied by quips posted to his private Instagram account of more than 350 followers. "Later he posted a photograph of Charles wearing his crown and compared it to the sorting hat in the Harry Potter books. ‘Was genuinely half expecting it to shout ‘GRYFFINDOR’,’ he wrote.”

Paul Costelloe, an Irish designer with connections to the royal family, told the Sunday Independent, that the comments were insulting to the British. “Costelloe urged Barrett to apologise and said Varadkar should have told his partner to turn off his phone. The British now had material to say the Irish did not know how to behave in such circumstances, he said. ‘I just hope the English press don’t get hold of it.”

So far I’ve seen the story posted on two British news sites (and Irish ones as well), but the most lively commentary is on Twitter. “Idiot” and “spoiled brat” are some of the compliments being bandied about by indignant tweeters. Such sensitivity among Mr. Costelloe and others about how the Irish may be perceived, is perhaps proof that insecurities still persist, despite attempts at inclusion. Still, Mr. Barrett took to social media to “unreservedly apologise,” for his behavior, bowing down to a tense civility. [Update: Post apology the tweets are becoming nicer toward Mr. Barrett. Diplomacy works.]