Protocol Accident Has Happy Sequel

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30310, 10 December 1963, Page 17

Protocol Accident Has Happy Sequel

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, December 9.

President de Valera of Ireland—sentenced to death and three times gaoled by the British —has had his first meeting with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home.

Their accidental encounter may be recorded as a historic occasion—the beginning of a thaw in the official frost that has endured since Ireland won its independence from Britain, says the "Daily Sketch.” So much significance does Mr de Valera attach to it that he has written personally to the man who inadvertently brought about the meeting, Mr Angier Biddle Duke, the American chief of protocol. Mr de Valera told him he might have done more than he knew, the newspaper says. It happened at the White House reception after President Kennedy’s funeral. Thinking the three were old acquaintances, Mr Duke ushered Mr de Valera, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prime Minister into an anteroom where they could talk more comfortably. Introductions were made and the three chatted happily together. The 81-year-old President was the only one of the 15 commandants of the 1916

Easter rebellion whose sentence of death was not carried out—because he was born in America. The sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life, but he was released under Lloyd George’s amnesty the following year. He subsequently served two other terms in gaol. A spokesman of the Irish Embassy in London said: “The President has mellowed o- :r the years, and there is a feeling in Ireland that there is no room for old animosities. “It was only a matter of time before our two countries got together more cordially, and the occasion in Washington seems to have been a good opportunity. “It could be the first step towards much closer relationships." The "Daily Sketch" says it is now being suggested that the climate might become even warn enough for the Queen to visit Dublin or President de Valera to make a formal trip to London in the near future.