About the author
The Princess Grace Irish Library is delighted that Flor MacCarthy is the recipient of The Ireland Funds Monaco Bursary for spring 2024.
Flor MacCarthy is a journalist and author whose non-fiction bestseller, The Presidents’ Letters (New Island Books) was shortlisted for Best Irish-Published Book 2021. She is a presenter of current affairs programmes on Ireland’s parliament television channel (Oireachtas TV), and is a former senior news journalist and anchor with Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTÉ. Flor graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in French and Art History, which led unexpectedly to her career in journalism.
Flor contributes to a variety of radio and TV programmes and has conducted in-person public interviews with numerous figures from the worlds of politics and the arts, including: Nobel-prize winning poet Seamus Heaney, Lord David Puttnam, award-winning author Joseph O’Connor, The Irish Times award-winning journalist Lara Marlowe, Prof. Richard Kearney and more. From West Cork, she lives in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin, with her husband and their two children.
March 2024, Flor MacCarthy presents her book to Mr Thomas Fouilleron, Director of the Archives and Library at the Prince's Palace of Monaco.
Photo copyright Photo Eric Mathon - Palais princier de Monaco
Theme of the talk: The Princess and the Presidents
Did you know that the first ever State Visit to Ireland was by HSH Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco in 1961? Or that President Éamon de Valera sent a gift of an Irish pony ‘Babbling Brook’ to Princess Caroline when she was four years old?
Join us for an illustrated talk on the relationship between the Prince's Family and successive Irish presidents as seen through their correspondence. Based on her bestselling book The Presidents’ Letters: An Unexpected History of Ireland, journalist and author Flor MacCarthy, presents highlights which show the warm friendship between Ireland and Monaco which continues to this day.
Flor will take a quick look at each of the nine Presidents of Ireland since the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. You will discover how the book project came about and how she gained access to the letters.
Each letter tells a story!
A selection of other highlights from the book will be reviewed:
● Letters between President de Valera, JFK and his widow Jacqueline Kennedy
● De Valera’s message flown to the Moon (in the pocket of Buzz Aldrin’s spacesuit) aboard the Apollo 11 space mission, 1969
● The envelope on which President Mary McAleese scribbled a phonetic message in Irish which was used by HRH Queen Elizabeth II as the opening words of her historic speech in Dublin Castle, May 2011.
Lunch idea! Dine before our library event
In collaboration with The American Club of the Riviera you can join them for lunch in the nearby restaurant Castelroc before the library event. Special rate offered with code : PGIL-MAR24
- Book your tickets HERE (includes the ticket to the library event)
Three ways to reserve for the talk:
- Buy a €10 ticket online for the lecture HERE
- Email: info@pgil.mc or Tel: + 377 93 50 12 25
- Admission is €10 per person - students €5
- No cards please - pay at the door cash or cheque made out to 'Fondation Princesse Grace'
- The talk starts at 14.30 – please arrive at least 10 minutes before to be seated
- We close the doors at 14:29 to avoid disturbing the speaker!
Pre-event luncheon
- In collaboration with The American Club of the Riviera you can join them for lunch at midday in the nearby restaurant Castelroc before the lecture. Special rate offered with code : PGIL-MAR24
- Book your €85 ticket (lunch & lecture) HERE
All event ticket sales support the cultural & educational activities of the non-profit Library.
Directions to the library HERE
Library address: 9 rue Princesse Marie-de-Lorraine, Monaco-Ville
We are on the first floor of the building - climb the stairs or take the elevator. Note: the doors close at 2.30pm sharp in order not to disturb the speaker!
