British Royal meets legendary Tipperary man and will 'borrow' local book from the Duchess

Martin Quinn had the great opportunity to meet with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at the Rock of Cashel during their visit on March 25.

It was a great honour for the Tipperary man to be able to present a copy of his book, Tipperary People of Great Note, to the Duchess of Cornwall.

On presenting the book to the Duchess he informed her that the cover picture was a reproduction of a painting of The Galtee Mountains and the Glen of Aherlow by Diana Mansergh, wife of Nicholas Mansergh, who is also featured in the book.

Martin said: "I informed the Duchess that Nicholas Mansergh served in the British Ministry of Information and was subsequently appointed head of the Empire Division during the 2nd World War and was awarded an OBE for his services in 1946, and that his son, Dr Martin Mansergh, had provided the foreword to the book.

"I went on to tell the Duchess of the renowned war artist, Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, Lady Butler, who is also featured in the book and that one of her paintings, Calling the Roll After An Engagement, Crimea, better known as The Roll Call, was purchased by Queen Victoria and remains in the Royal Collection.

"The Duchess was very interested in this information and thanked me for the book and said that it would provide great reading for her on her journey home.

"Shortly afterwards I then had the pleasure to meet Prince Charles. In greeting him I told him that I had presented the Duchess with a copy of my book and he enquired about its content.

"I said that it featured 86 people, men and women, from Tipperary, many with strong connections to England. He was very interested to learn this and said that he must 'borrow it from the Duchess' when he the opportunity arises.

"Both the Duchess and the Prince were extremely warm and friendly and keenly interested in learning more about the Tipperary connections to England as featured in the book."