Prince Charles and Camilla praised for 'giving great time to everyone' during visit to Cahir

Britain’s future king and queen showed they had the common touch in abundance during their visit to Cahir last Friday where they chatted with community groups, residents, school children and Prince Charles played the bodhrán with trad musicians.

Cahir was looking its best as the town showcased its music, culture, heritage food and strong community spirit to Prince Charles and Camilla during their whistle stop visit on a sun drenched final morning of their Irish tour.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall packed a lot in, touring a farmers’ market filled with the county’s locally produced food and drink, listening to music from Cahir Comhaltas, meeting representatives of community groups and school children and visiting Cahir Castle.

Everyone in Cahir who greeted and shook hands with the prince and duchess were struck by how personable, warm and interested they were in meeting the people of the town.

None more so than the five musicians from Cahir Comhaltas Ceoltóirí, who briefly added a sixth member to their group when Prince Charles picked up a bodhrán and joined in making music with them.

Flute players Michael Harty, Eoin Fahy, Rebecca Ryan, fiddle player Megan Davis and uilleann piper Diarmuid Meagher immediately caught the eye of the royals when they arrived in Cahir and were duly moved closer to the centre of the action around the farmers’ market.

Traditional music teacher Michael Harty and his wife Mary did some research in preparation for the royal visit and discovered that on a recent visit to an Irish cultural centre at Hammersmith in London, the prince and duchess played the bodhrán with traditional musicians .

“We said wouldn’t it be nice, if we left bodhráns out on a chair,” said Mary. Prince Charles duly caught the bait when he walked over to speak to the Comhaltas players.

Mary recalled when the prince picked up the bodhrán a big cheer went up from the crowd and the press corps descended on them.

“All the cameras left Camilla. It was like a swarm of bees. They all wanted in on it. The security were holding them all back. They were fighting for position, they ran everywhere. It was just incredible.”

Michael said Prince Charles showed great interest in them.

“He admired the instruments, asking us where they were made. He told us that as a young lad, he learned the (bag)pipes though he wasn’t great at them. I asked him would you like to try a little tune and he picked it (the bodhrán) up. I didn’t expect it."

Mr Harty said Camilla was also very nice and chatted to them and was very ordinary and natural.

Mary believes that if Charles hadn’t a packed itinerary ahead of him, he would have sat down with them all day.

Delegations from an array of local community groups ranging from Cahir Tidy Towns and Cahir Men’s Shed to Cahir Lions Club and Cahir Development Association also met the royals.

Cllr Andy Moloney, one of Cahir Tidy Towns’ volunteers there to greet the royals, said the group put in a lot of work in the weeks before the visit to ensure the town was looking its best. Their volunteers were out and about in the town from 6am last Friday doing last minute cleaning.

Their good work was noticed by Prince Charles. “He said to me: ‘you have a very neat and tidy town and it looks lovely and you have lovely food producers’,” Cllr Moloney recalled.

The Independent councillor informed the prince about plans to upgrade the town square and library building and how three of Cahir’s historic buildings, the Swiss Cottage, St Paul’s Church and Erasmus Smith House were built by Buckingham Palace architect John Nash.

“He told me he would have loved to have seen St Paul’s Church and asked if it had been changed since it was built. I told him it hadn’t.”

Cllr Moloney noted there were some who regarded the royal couple’s visit in a negative light due to the country’s history with the UK. But as someone whose grandfather fought in the War of Independence, he believed their visit could only be positive in terms of boosting Cahir as a tourist destination and enhancing Ireland’s relationship with Britain.

OPW site manager of Cahir Castle Eleanor Morrissey agrees. The prince and duchess’ last stop off in Cahir was a short private visit to the castle. The photo of them standing together at the castle entrance will, no doubt, assist with marketing the castle and Cahir town to foreign visitors.

“I would imagine in the long term their visit will be very beneficial for the town,” she said.

The prince and duchess also greeted fifth and sixth class students from Cahir Boys National School and Our Lady of Mercy National School along with 5th year students from Colaiste Dun Iascaigh, who were positioned near the town’s war memorial.

Camilla was presented with flowers by Katie Peters, a sixth class pupil at Our Lady of Mercy NS, accompanied by Cahir Boys NS sixth class student Kyrillos Gerges.

Our Lady of Mercy teacher Sylvia Sheehan said her students were delighted to meet the royals and fascinated by the spectacle including the arrival of the royal car led by a cavalcade of Garda motorbikes and the mounted gardaí on horses.

She recalled how Camilla chatted with her students asking them what subjects they didn’t like in school and whether they were going to get the afternoon off.

Her students wanted to know all about Britain’s royal family on their return to school.

“They gave everyone great time. They didn’t rush it and stayed there a full hour.

“The visit was brilliant for the town. What was nice about it was that it was the ordinary people and the town’s volunteers who were the VIPs the royals wanted to meet rather just local dignitaries.”

One resident who got to shake hands and speak to Prince Charles and Camilla was Nora Quirke, who celebrated her 97th birthday in the past few days.

Nora, who successfully overcame Covid-19 twice, said she was absolutely delighted to meet them. “It was a big day for me. I never thought I would meet a prince.”

Full coverage of the royal visit to Cahir and Cashel, included several pages of pictures, are published in this week's editions of The Nationalist and Tipperary Star now in local shops. 

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Tipperary council chairperson presented picture of Glengarra Mountain Lodge to Prince Charles and Camilla

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Royal visit to spark tourism bonanza for Tipperary