IT IS likely that Queen Elizabeth feels quite at home when she visits Hillsborough Castle. With its air of quiet affluence, its terraces of ivy-clad Georgian homes and its numerous genteel tearooms, the village of Hillsborough is that most English of Irelands. But on this occasion, it was an Irish victory – and the all-island wave of euphoria that followed – that was being celebrated.
As is usual with royal gatherings, especially in Northern Ireland, there was an awful lot of hanging around before the event itself. The blustery wind whipped and tore at the royal standard flying above the castle, as guests waited to go through the security check.
Posses of well-scrubbed school children, portly businessmen and well-preserved women in white linen trouser suits queued up patiently. Meanwhile, the press were corralled in Bar Retro on the village’s Main Street, a most incongruous and unHillsborough-like spot with fake python-skin armchairs and lurid pictures of Jimi Hendrix on the walls.
Excitement at the prospect of being in the same room as the Grand Slam-winning team was high, and many stories were swapped about previous encounters. “I bought Brian O’Driscoll a drink,” went one. “I was never so starstruck in me life.” It must be said that there were no similarly breathless yarns about the queen.
At last – “mobile phones off, please” – we were permitted to enter the reception. The queen herself – expertly coiffed, of course, and demure in pale blue and pearls – was barely visible among the beefy fellows towering around her. Once freed from their official duties, however, most of the players retreated into tight-knit groups, chortling together and munching on the canapés, for all the world like schoolboys released from the constraints of prize day. Coach Declan Kidney was left to do much of the circulating and glad-handing around the room.
So how did they get on with the queen? “Talk to Strings, Strings is your man,” the players all chorused, but Peter Stringer was chatting away on his mobile, seemingly impervious to her majesty doing the rounds nearby. Evidently he had special dispensation to ignore the “phones off” directives. That’s how you know you’re a superstar.
“Well, I asked her for a pint of Harp and a packet of crisps,” laughed Stephen Ferris. His girlfriend Lauren Hood confided that she was worried her curtsey had gone a bit lopsided at the last moment. Rory Best was in a more reflective mood: “The queen was lovely. It was very special. You know, in terms of special guests, you don’t get better than that.”
All the same, it is clear who the real stars of the show were. As the players left the reception, even the police officers – previously watchful and stern – were suddenly wreathed with smiles, dashing over to get a quick picture of the team, before they whisked their magic away with them.