Clare Kambamettu (26), a psychologist, is the daughter of Dr Ravi Kambamettu, an Indian-born doctor in Kildare. Amazingly she is the second successive winner from the small town of Athy who moved to London in two years.

Last year's winner Charmaine Kenny also moved to London from Athy.

Born in Leeds, England, she returned to Ireland at age eight. Educated at Scoil Mhuire, Athy and University College Galway, Clare went on to do a Master’s Degree in Psychology at King’s College, London. Now working for the National Health Service, she plans to embark on further studies, having applied for a Phd in Clinical Psychology.

"It's been an absolutely amazing week," she said after she was announced the winner, "and what I've learned about the Rose of Tralee is that everything you think is going to happen, you just double it, and triple it, and add a million on to it and you get somewhere near what actually happens."

According to her mum, Breda, Clare decided to enter the competition when she saw an advertisement on her way home from work one evening.

“She had been attending a lot of very serious interviews and just decided that this would be a bit of fun,” said Breda,

The Rose of Tralee festival annually brings 100,000 visitors to the Kerry town for a week-long festival.

The show is shown live on Irish television over two nights with up to 1.5 million people viewing it. It is also broadcast via internet world-wide.