Happy St Patrick's Day!

There is no better way to mark St Patrick's Day than with a stunning picture of everyone's favorite Irish-American Princess of Monaco, taken on St Patrick's Day in 1954, here via The Royal Digest. Princess Grace was very proud of her Irish heritage, visited the country on several occasions and established, as part of her legacy, the Princess Grace Irish Library. Check up on past posts about the Irish-Monegasque connections here.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

No member of the Irish diaspora is more famous in Monaco that Princess Grace. Her grandfather, John Henry Kelly, was an Irishman from Newport, County Mayo, Ireland and who came to the United States in 1869 (his wife also came from Ireland to the U.S. in 1867). Princess Grace was quite proud of her Irish heritage, a legacy of which is the Princess Grace Irish Library and she was much beloved in Ireland as is seen by the ecstatic welcome shown when the Princely Family visited Ireland. She passed this on to her son who took the name of his grandfather when he showed up for a cameo in the film "One Man's Hero" about the Irish San Patricio Battalion that fought for Mexico against the United States in the U.S.-Mexican War. Last year there had been a visit by Prince Albert planned for Ireland but it fell through, however, word has been going around that another trip is being discussed. Anyway, a happy St Patrick's Day to all the Irish around the world from Mad for Monaco!