The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
WITH Kate Middleton celebrating the birth of her first child and future king of England this week, it has emerged she could, potentially, be taking part in the celebrations for another royal relation in Clare next year.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s Irish family connections go back to Brian Boru, the first High King of Ireland, who was born, raised and ruled in what is now Killaloe. Organisers of next year’s celebrations in Killaloe and Ballina of the 1000th year anniversary of Boru’s death are considering inviting the duchess to Clare for the event.
Bróna Moriarty of the Killaloe Ballina 2014 project team said, “We have spoken about inviting her and her family here for 2014. We will be considering sending an invitation. It would be a huge opportunity for the 2014 celebrations to have one of Brian Boru’s most high profile descendents visiting us. If we did invite her and the invitation was accepted, we would give them a very good welcome here in Killaloe.”
She added, “We would like to wish her all the best in her new role as a mother.”
As the world learned Kate and Wills’ new baby is to be called George Alexander Louis, John Grimes of the annual Féile Brian Boru quipped that they could have called him Brian after her famous relation.
He confirmed that discussions are underway about the possibility of inviting Kate and her family to the area.
He congratulated the couple and reiterated that they would receive a warm welcome if they ever decided to visit Killaloe to see where Kate’s descendent came from.
The year-long 2014 millennium celebrations will include a number of key anchor events including the Killaloe Ballina St Patrick’s Festival, April Millennium Commemorations, Féile Brian Boru and October 10.14 celebrations.
Earlier this year, Tourism Ireland unveiled details of the Duchess of Cambridge’s Irish connections. Research carried out by genealogists shows she has connections, through the Lupton family from Yorkshire, with the Fitzmaurices, a noble family from County Kerry, who in turn had links back to Brian Boru.
