Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901. The Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had a deep appreciation for several spots in Ireland and visited just a year before her death.
Queen Victoria is said to have fallen head over heels in love with Ireland during the visits she made there throughout her royal reign.
The history books show Victoria visited Ireland four times, during which she pointed the spotlight firmly on Ireland as a destination fit for a queen.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1860 (Getty)
The Queen's affection for Ireland began as a young woman when she reportedly fell in love with scenic Killarney in County Kerry in the southwest of the country.
Her third official visit to Ireland in 1861 included four days in County Kerry, which put the region on the international map as a holiday hotspot.
She did not visit for the remainder of the century, however, only traveling back to Ireland on April 3, 1900, a trip which was believed to have been a recruitment tool for the Boer War in South Africa.
County Kerry still remains one of Ireland’s most popular places to travel to, and travelers can still visit attractions made famous by Britain’s former monarch.
Ladies View in the heart of the stunning Killarney National Park is one of the best-known spots that was visited by Victoria. A popular stopping point along the world-famous Ring of Kerry, Ladies View is named after Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting who were taken to the area during the royal visit of 1861. They were so enraptured with the view it was named after them.
Ladies View in Killarney (Ireland's Content Pool)
Ladies View provides truly spectacular vistas over the Lakes of Killarney, including the Gap of Dunloe, the Black Valley, and the 15th-century Ross Castle. A gift shop, café, and bar at the viewpoint now offer the visitor a number of reasons for stopping there.
The Gap of Dunloe (Ireland's Content Pool)
Muckross House and Gardens, one of County Kerry’s most popular visitor attractions, also owes its fame largely to Victoria. The royal party stayed two nights there as guests of the Herbert family during the 1861 visit. The Herberts had carried out elaborate preparations, commissioning tapestries, mirrors, Persian carpets, silverware, musical instruments, linen, china, and servants' uniforms for the occasion. The curtains that still hang in the Muckross House dining room were specially woven for the occasion.
Restored to its original Victorian splendor, Muckross House and Gardens are open to the public. Visitors can enjoy wandering through the mansion, taking a turn around the beautiful walled garden, and dropping into the craft shop.
Muckross House and Gardens (Ireland's Content Pool)
Although Queen Elizabeth II did not include County Kerry in her itinerary when she visited in 2011, she did give the royal seal of approval to the Rock of Cashel in Tipperary, as well sites in Dublin, Kildare, and Cork.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip arriving at Cashel, Co Tipperary (Getty)
The Irish hoped she would echo the words of Victoria who, although famously often ‘not amused,' was very positive about Ireland and it seems that the current Queen of England loved the place as much as her great-grandmother.
“I am very sorry to leave Ireland. I have had an extremely pleasant time,” Queen Victoria said at the end of her last official visit to the Emerald Isle in 1900.
In 2011, a document was set to be put to auction in Ireland outlining the fuss and ceremony surrounding this last visit. The Irish Office of Public Works (OPW) file included 200 different documents regarding the trip in total including descriptions of the "misplaced" royal yacht and the last-minute preparations.
Telegrams between London and Dublin show that the royal yacht was "lost" temporarily just days before the 1900 visit. The Admiralty in London informed Dublin that the yacht had already been sent. The Irish officials responded by saying they couldn't find it. Two days later a telegram from London arrived admitting that the yacht was, in fact, off the south of England.
Among the rest of the files, are orders to keep the sound of trains and mail boats to a minimum so as not to disturb Queen Victoria, orders for special flags as well as complaints about a new wooden pier built specifically for her.
"There seems to have been a lot of panic among civil servants about Queen Victoria's visit. They wanted to know the length of the royal yacht so that they could build a special place in the harbor…Then the Admiralty misplaced the boat. There were no computers or tracking devices in those days," auctioneer Ian Whyte told the BBC.
What is your favorite part of Ireland? Let us know in the comments section, below.
H/T: Discover Ireland
*Originally published in January 2017. Updated in January 2023.
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