Oh dear. It was all meant to be going so well for British-Irish relations. Earlier this month both the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Republic’s president, Michael D. Higgins, flew out to London for King Charles’ coronation – the first Irish nationalist leaders to attend a British coronation in over a century. Even Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s First Minister, managed to swallow her pride and make the visit, saying ‘I am an Irish republican. I also recognise there are many people on our island for whom the coronation is a hugely important occasion.’
It appears that some did not treat the ceremony with quite the same respect though. For also attending the event was Leo Varadkar’s boyfriend Matt Barrett, who went on to post several ribald messages to a private Instagram group during the coronation, which – rather embarrassingly for Varadkar – have now leaked to the Irish Times.
While waiting in Westminster Abbey for the King to arrive at the ceremony, Barrett appeared to ignore a message in the order of service asking guests to turn off their mobile phones, and instead used the opportunity to crack a few jokes.
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