Princess Caroline of Monaco attended the funeral in Dublin yesterday of her butler, who drowned in Austria last week.
She was joined by her husband, Prince Ernst August of Hanover, in offering condolences to the family of Mr Philip McCartney (40), of Irishtown, who died on the prince's hunting estate near the Austrian town of Gruenau.
Tributes were paid during Mass at the Star of the Sea Church, Sandymount, to a "larger-than-life" character who was devoted to making life pleasant for others.
Mr McCartney had spent 11 years as personal servant to the prince and his wife, the eldest daughter of the late Princess Grace, who died in a 1982 Monaco car crash.
Mr McCartney's body was found on September 24th under a bridge on the 5,000-hectare estate. The Dubliner had been walking home from a party in a nearby town the previous night when he is believed to have slipped and fallen into the Alm river, hitting his head on a stone and drowning.
Mr McCartney's wife, Ulrike, son, Frederic, and mother, Kathleen, led the mourners.
His brother, Richard, was one of a number of family members to pay tribute, using sign language to indicate that the loss of "a perfect gentleman" had left his heart broken. His sister, Jennifer, read a matching eulogy.
Another sister, Leslie, was in tears as she spoke of the "great joy and happiness" her brother had given the family.
More than 20 staff from the royal entourage travelled to Dublin for the ceremony and burial afterwards in Shanganagh Cemetery.
