Cruise’s Royal Hotel sat on the main thoroughfare of Georgian Limerick for 200 years. Not always known by that moniker, the now almost forgotten hotel was a sleeping place for many famous visitors to Limerick, including writer Charles Dickens, politician Sir Isaac Butt, and Hollywood actor Rock Hudson.
As one would expect, these notable dignitaries both entered and exited the hotel by the front door. But using the front door was not always a guarantee for guests in Cruise’s Royal, as bizarrely some of important visitors were ushered out a window.
One such case occurred in May 1891, when Charles Stewart Parnell stepped out onto the balcony railings of a second storey window of the Cruise’s Royal Hotel. Access was gained through a set of double doors from the hotel dining room.
From the balcony, Parnell gave an impassioned speech to the 10,000 people below. He was upset over the recent Land Bill.
The crowd outside the hotel held banners and torches while waiting with bated breath for Parnell to speak. As he leaned forward out of the balcony, two stout young men held on to his coat tails to prevent Parnell from toppling in to the crowd below.
The men twisted the coat tails like a rope and held them tight. As the men shifted their weight, Parnell was moved violently from side to side. This caused his speech to seem even more heartfelt. Sadly, Parnell would die a few months after this speech.
The risks of leaning out of the Cruise’s Royal balcony window were realised on several different occasions. To avoid danger, a platform was raised for other notable speakers over the years. This was no simple task, but was greatly appreciated by the general public vying to catch a glimpse of a visiting dignitary.
On Saturday May 30, 1964, Senator Edward ‘Ted’ Kennedy arrived in Limerick in a light blue Pontiac. His visit was less than a year after his brother, then US President John F Kennedy, had a change of plans after being invited to the city by Mayor Francis Condell.
Ted Kennedy (1932-2009) was the youngest brother of President Kennedy (1917-1963). He served a record breaking time as a US Senator from Massachusetts from 1962 to 2009, making him one of the longest-serving senators in US history.
Unlike the late President, Senator Kennedy was welcomed by Mayor Condell into the heart of the city, arriving at Cruise’s Royal Hotel.
The streets were lined with thousands of people wanting to catch a glimpse of the brother of the late US President.
When the cortege arrived at the hotel it was mobbed by the large crowd. It took all the powers of the Gardaí to hold the crowd back as the dignitaries made their way into the hotel.
A stand had been erected in front of the hotel under the word Royal. Access to the stand was gained by climbing through a window on the first floor of the hotel. The senator, the mayor, and an assortment of dignitaries made their way out that window onto the platform overlooking the large crowd on O’Connell Street.
Mayor Condell was reported as saying: “You may have thought, Senator, that it was very Irish of us to bring you to this platform balcony through a window of this hotel, but there was an important reason for that.”
The Mayor went on to note that Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator, had also used the same window to step out onto a platform after his election as an MP for County Clare in 1828.
The Senator saw the humour in it all as he responded that he could “remember stories, as many of us all knew only too well, of Irishmen in different times who didn’t receive a welcome such as he received after coming through windows”.
Mayor Condell gifted a silver tea set to the Senator and he promised as “he left this splendid City of Limerick, and this wonderful island, he would try to bring his brothers and sisters and his mother and father” to visit the country.
The platform wasn’t without controversy, there were ructions in the Council Chamber before it was built.
Alderman Stephen Coughlan did not approve of £600 being spent on the erection of the platform and a reception for 300 people.
In October 1964, the Alderman would state: “It was all very fine to show concern for the rates when the poor people of the city were involved, but there was no concern displayed when it came to … providing entertainment on the occasion of Senator Ted Kennedy’s visit.”
A month after the Senator’s visit, the Royal, Lyric, and Grand Central cinema’s showed news reels by British Pathe of his visit to the city.
Later that year, in November, Mrs Joan Kennedy stopped in Shannon Airport on her way to an exhibition in Dublin. She represented the Kennedy family at this time as her husband, the Senator, was recovering from a back injury he sustained not long after leaving Limerick.
It took until 1970 before Ted Kennedy landed on Irish soil again. He stopped in Shannon and took a stroll around the terminal, admiring the portrait of his late brother before returning to his airplane.
This was not his only stop in Shannon, he arrived on several other occasions, often accompanied by his family.
Although he could not keep the promise he made on the platform full, he did bring his children to see Ireland.
The Cruise’s Royal Hotel was demolished in 1991 to make way for the Cruise’s Street we know today.
