Royal rebuff goes down well in Trim
Shortly after the long-awaited announcement of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Knightsbrook Hotel manager Patrick Curran wrote to St James's Palace inviting them to consider the Trim Hotel as a venue for the royal wedding. Meath is the Royal County, after all. While there was no great surprise when the office of Prince William politely declined the invitation, there was great excitement at the Trim hotel when an official letter was recently received from St James's Palace. “When Prince William and Kate Middleton's engagement was announced in the news in the latter part of last year and there was a lot of talk of the Queen's visit to Ireland, I happened to be visiting the Hill of Tara and thought about the relationship between the High Kings of Tara and Meath being the Royal County and I thought why not send an invite to them to look at Knightsbrook Hotel?†explained Mr Curran. He said they sent the invitation, and a wedding pack along with a history of the the Hill of Tara and recently he received a reply back from St James's Palace thanking them for their offer of the Trim hotel. The letter, sent from the office of HRH Prince William of Wales and HRH Prince Harry of Wales at St James's Palace, states: “Thank you for your letter and kind offer of the Knightsbrook Hotel Spa and Golf Resort as a venue in connection with the forthcoming marriage of Prince William of Wales to Miss Catherine Middleton. As you will be aware, it was recently announced that the wedding reception will be held at Buckingham Palace. Nevertheless, it was very kind of you to write offering the Knightsbrook Hotel as a venue.†When asked if he was surprised to get a response, Mr Curran said: “In a way, I was quietly honoured to get a response. It goes to show the respect they have and the machine that the Royal family is that they don't ignore any reasonable request.†He said the letter generated a great buzz around the hotel, particularly their wedding co-ordinator who, he said, was “quite impressedâ€. However, Mr Curran also pointed out that the royal wedding reception would host 6,000, which would have been just beyond their capacity! When asked if they would be extending a similar invitation ahead of the Queen's proposed visit, Mr Curran said he understood the people of Killarney were keen to get her to Co Kerry and he would not like to stand in their way!