Queen Victoria's statue was buried for decades after independence beneath a lawn in University College, Cork, but its survival is a mark of Cork City's civilisation, Queen Elizabeth II was told yesterday, writes MARK HENNESSY
IN AUGUST 1849, a statue of a youthful Queen Victoria was erected on the highest gable of Queen’s College in Cork with the monarch watching below, during an official trip that was deemed to be a public relations success, but which left no lasting improvement in Anglo-Irish relations.
In 1935, the limestone statue was taken down and put in storage before being buried in the President’s Garden where it remained until it was rescued in 1995 – somewhat the worse for wear – to mark the college’s 150th anniversary.
Once refurbished, it was put back on display in the college’s graduate hall.
Yesterday, it stood in a hall in University College Cork’s Tyndall National Institute for the arrival of one of Victoria’s successor, Queen Elizabeth, who expressed a wish to see it during her visit.
Historian, Prof John A Murphy recounted its life under the lawn and rehabilitation, telling Queen Elizabeth that the college authorities of the day were “too civilised to break it up even though they did not like Queen Victoria”.
The sculpture of the then 30-year-old queen had been crafted by a Cork artist, hewn from Cork limestone, the legendary Corkman told Queen Elizabeth: “They would have been philistines to have destroyed it.”
Prof Murphy said Queen Elizabeth had expressed surprise at the representation of a young Queen Victoria: “Isn’t that interesting? She must have seen loads of statues, but they are all of an older woman,” he said later.
However, the statue is the past. The Tyndall Institute – with 450 students, including 125 PhDs – was more interested in emphasising the future, displaying its work in high-technology fibre, drug treatments among a host of others.
Senior academics and staff chosen by lottery were introduced to the royal couple, along with community leaders, while the Queen joked with the Lord Mayor of Cork, Michael O’Connell, when she met him in the greeting line that “we’ve already met”.
Meanwhile, Hassan Benhaffaf, one of conjoined twins before they were separated at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London a year ago, slept through his encounter with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
His brother, Hussein stayed wide awake, however, while mother Angie spoke briefly with the royal couple before giving courtiers a copy of a book on the twins’ struggle for life: “They’ve met David Cameron in No 10 and now the Queen. There’s only President Obama left,” she said.
Meanwhile, the lead surgeon in the Benhaffaf operation, Edward Kiely was another invited guest. “Like every other Corkman I am very proud of my home town, but like many others I never expected to see this day. This is history in the making,” he said.
Now heading the Tyndall Institute, Liverpool-born Prof Roger Whatmore, who has lived in Cork City for over five years, said he had been “absolutely blown away” by the reception accorded to Queen Elizabeth during the four-day visit.
“As an Englishman, I have found it deeply moving.
“To see the whole thing from an Irish perspective has been fantastic. Some of my colleagues here spoke about how deeply affected they were by the Queen bowing at the Garden of Remembrance.
“I expected her to bow her head, because that is the sort of person that she is,” said Prof Whatmore.
“Because I have been living here for 5½ years I know how welcoming the Irish people are, so I was not surprised by the welcome given, particularly here.
But, he said, the standing ovation in the Convention Centre in Dublin was amazing.
“The Queen, I thought, looked radiant afterwards.
"I have never seen her look so good. It was just glorious," he told The Irish Timesshortly after Queen Elizabeth had departed.