IRELAND: When Prince Rainier and his wife, Princess Grace, visited this country in June 1961, there were scuffles outside the Gresham hotel and bunting on the streets of Cong, Co Mayo.
It was the first of two visits to Ireland by the couple, the second two years later.
In January 1961 Prince Rainier wrote to President Éamon de Valera, thanking him for his invitation to Ireland to attend the International Festival of Music and Arts in Dublin in June. The National Operatic Orchestra of Monaco was taking part and the prince and princess accepted the invitation "avec grand plaisir".
Their flight from Paris was delayed, reported The Irish Times of June 1963, and the crowds that had begun to gather at 2pm in driving rain were drifting away by 6pm. "It was not until 7pm that the plane landed, but by that time the crowd had built up again and airport authorities estimated the number of people at 10,000 or more.
"They crowded on the public balconies, under the sodden flags of many nations. A light drizzle was still falling when the door of the big jet opened and the princess led the royal party down the steps on to the tarmac."
As the couple were driven in the presidential Rolls-Royce to Áras an Uachtaráin, crowds lined both sides of the streets, up to 10 deep, along the route through Dorset Street, Dame Street and on, and "the Irish and Monaco flags were prominent on Grattan Bridge and Capel Street".
The visit was extensively covered, with long, detailed pieces on each of the four days of the "official" part of the visit. While in Dublin the princess visited hospitals, an "orphans' home" and an outing for disabled children, while the prince visited a housing scheme in Coolock.
There were crowds wherever they went. During a banquet at the Gresham hotel, 50 people had to be treated by ambulance crews after thousands swarmed around the couple as they arrived.
"Rows of police had to stand on the running boards of the official cars to ward off the crowds, while others, heavily reinforced, tried to clear the last few yards to the hotel," reported The Irish Times the next day. "It was only after a fierce tussle with the crowd that the visibly shaken prince and princess were rescued and taken to the hotel."
The princess, of course, had well-known Irish connections. Her grandfather, John Kelly, had been born at Drumirla, near Clew Bay, Co Mayo.
The day after the Gresham melee, the family left Dublin, "for a private visit" to Mayo. They stopped in Athlone en route, the four-hour journey thought to be "too much for the children" - Prince Albert (3) and his sister Princess Caroline (4). Though a private visit, "all along the narrow roads of Co Mayo, villagers turned out" to greet them.
The family returned to Ireland in August 1963 for another much-reported "quiet Irish holiday", during which they attended an All-Ireland hurling final in Croke Park.
However, the trip was their second choice, according to the princess. "We had planned a cruise on the prince's new yacht for this week," she told reporters, "but unfortunately fire broke out on it and we have had to postpone it."
Princess Grace did return alone in 1973, again to her ancestral home county and to the Irish American Cultural Institute.
