A SAMPLE OF documents from the National Archives details the minutiae of concerns over how the 1953 coronation of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth would be marked by Ireland, from a controversial garden party to how the London Embassy would be decorated.
There was also an IRA bomb threat towards a British organisation planning to organise a cocktail party to mark the day.
Ireland became a republic just four years prior to Queen Elizabeth’s coronation ceremony in 1953, and the files give a glimpse at the careful efforts to portray the State’s attitude towards the United Kingdom.
The majority of the documents viewed by The Journal relate to the Department of External Affairs, a precursor to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
In one example, the head of An Bord Fáilte (later Fáilte Ireland) informs the Irish Embassy in London in March 1953 that he had accepted an invitation to view the coronation procession from the office of the British Travel and Holidays Association, the British equivalent of An Board Fáilte.
“It has occurred to me that while there would be no official significance in my going to London at the time of the coronation, there is the possibility that somebody might draw attention to it,” Michael Kevin O’Doherty wrote.
“I am naturally anxious to avoid personal or official embarrassment and I should be most grateful therefore, if you could see your way to give me a word of advice in the matter. I could excuse myself on personal grounds if you advise against going.”
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The documents show that Ireland’s ambassador to Great Britain, Frederick Henry Boland, initially said the issue was a question for Doherty himself – “I would not myself think that it would give rise to any question of principle” – but then seemingly discarded the letter.
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He wrote to secretary of the Department of External Affairs, Sean Nunan.
“I don’t think myself that it matters a great deal one way or the other whether O’Doherty goes or not but, as it is a bit difficult to judge home feeling at this distance, I feel that the Department should have the opportunity of considering the matter,” Boland writes.
It was followed quickly by a note to say that O’Doherty should not attend as doing so may have caused embarrassment, before Nunan asked to destroy the reply and indicated that he would contact O’Doherty himself.
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In another letter, the Anti-Parition Association (Cumann Briseadh na Teorann) wrote to the Minister for External Affairs with a series of questions on whether the Irish embassy in London would host a viewing of the procession, hold a party, decorate its building, or if the Irish ambassador would attend the British ambassador’s party.
“As you must be aware, there is considerable criticism of your decision that the Irish Ambassador shall attend the coronation, even in the limited way defined in your answer in the Dáil,” Marie Comerford said.
“The National Executive of this organisation, with the support and by direction of the Ard Fheis, has already expressed its views in a letter to you, and at public meetings of protest. We believe that it will not be possible to stop emmigration, or build the nation unless the Government takes a proud and independent line on matters such as this.”
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A private secretary replied that the embassy was not on the route of coronation “and no view of the procession can be had from it”.
“No party or entertainment will be given in connection with the coronation and the exterior walls of the embassy building will not have any extra decoration.
“Heads of Irish diplomatic missions abroad have standing instructions to act in accordance with the requirements of local protocol in regard to all invitations.”
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There was also the matter of the allocation of seats along the coronation route for the Irish delegation.
Even as early as August 1952, the Irish embassy noted that they were “plagued with applications from Irish citizens for seats on the coronation route”.
The number of seats available was expected to be five or less, compared to 150 for Commonwealth countries.
In a confidential note, Ambassador Boland shared details of a meeting he held with Richard Sedgwick of the Commonwealth Relations Office, on the subject of these seats and other issues.
“I told Mr Sedgwick quite frankly that reasons of which he was aware – namely partition and the position with regard to the Royal Style and Titles – made it impossible for us to participate in the coronation ceremonies in the way we would otherwise wish to do,” he said.
“On the other hand, from our point of view, there was no reason why our non-acceptance of the allocation of seats which had been offered to us need be subject of any special publicity. Mr Sedgwick quite agreed with this view.”
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Closer to home, a threat was received by the RAF Association, which supports former Royal Air Force members and their families.
In the following decades, the premises at Earlsfort Terrace was petrol bombed twice, according to the Come Here To Me blog - once in 1967, and again in 1972 following Bloody Sunday.
This 1953 threat from the IRA Dublin Branch, with an address in Rathgar, warned that any celebrations at their headquarters “will be dealt with by military action on coronation day of the British Queen”, adding that the premises were under surveillance.
“In order to prevent (we hope not) loss of life and damage of property will appeal to you to comply with this order.”
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A letter – marked secret – followed from John Chadwick at the British Embassy to the secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs, Sean Nunan, informing him that he had been in touch with authorities and that police protection for the club would be discussed.
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Nunan received the letter a day late, and his reply was short and to the point:
“We always prefer here that delicate matters which have a bearing on relations with other countries should be placed in our hands. In a case of extreme urgency, of course, when no senior officer of this Department is available, the Secretary of the Department concerned – in this kind of case, the Secretary of the Department of Justice – might be approached.”
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In the run-up to the coronation, de Valera made it clear that, as an act of protest, no representatives from Dublin would be sent to the coronation.
However, the Irish Ambassador to London would accept invitations to various related events, a move criticised by some in the media.
Newspapers from the time show a diversity of opinion on the decision, which were clipped and included in files associated with the office of the president, at that time Seán T. O’Kelly.
The London Letter page of The Irish Times labelled the government’s protest “a childish gaffe”.
“Mr de Valera and his colleagues, as well as those politicians who oppose him, may think that this act of petty discourtesy may, in some way, further the cause of a United Ireland. We do not think so.
On the contrary, we fear that it will engender unnecessary feelings of ill-will against our country all over the world.
Another Irish Times article covered comments by Alexander Hunter MP, in which he described the Ambassador of London’s attendance at the ceremony as “amusing”, considering the government’s protest:
It must surely strain to the utmost all the great mathematical ability of Mr de Valera to reconcile these two points of view.
Letters to the editor show a different viewpoint, with one person expressing their “entire concurrence in, and approbation of” de Valera’s decision, calling it “the minimum indispensable protest required by the situation”.
Sinn Féin’s party secretary Tomás Ó Dubhghaill said that in Northern Ireland there had been “police persecution, early morning raids, visits to employers in an attempt to intimidate them into dismissing Republicans and Nationalists, and all the tricks which are part and parcel of the Empire”.
He warned that a visit by the new Queen would result in “a general roundup and wholesale imprisonments” of those who are “disloyal”.
With reporting by Mairead Maguire
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