They were all upstairs. The Adam Suite of the Shelbourne Hotel was packed to the gills. Homan Potterton fans were out in force. The man who has written his memoirs, Rathcormick, a Childhood Recalled, was the toast of the night. They came from London, all over Dublin, Co Meath and further afield. Silvia Lawson Johnston, his "newest best friend" and next-door neighbour in the south-west of France, where he now lives, was there, talking to Sir Michael Carleton-Smith, a retired British army major-general from London.
The author, who is a former director of the National Gallery of Ireland, and Lady Penelope Francis, who flew over from London for the party, reminisced about college days in TCD. "I invited her to the Trinity Ball in 1966 and she stood me up," he said, as he hugged his friend. Will she be in his next volume of memoirs? "I'll probably never speak to him if I'm in the sequel," she joked. The book deals with the first 14 years of Potterton's life, bringing the reader up to 1960.
Potterton's niece, Sarah Potterton, also came over from London to join the celebrations. Lady Eileen Mount Charles, in a brilliant claret Sonya Rykiel gown, was there too, getting her book autographed.
Dr Rosemarie Mulcahy, who attended with her husband, Seβn Mulcahy, was still glowing with pleasure after being presented with the "Cruz de Oficial da la Order de Isabel la Catolica" by ambassador Enrique Pastor the night before. The award was made in recognition of her academic work in Spanish art. She is now, officially, "an illustrious dame" or, in Spanish, an "ilustrisima do±a".
Jeremy Williams, the architect and fΩted illustrator of the book, chatted to the Baroness Ulli de Breffni. His mother, Joan Williams, and his twin brother, Johnny Williams, were also there. The illustrations "are most beautiful", Sue Scott, an economist, said. "I am a great admirer of his drawings."
Michael Potterton, a cousin, and his girlfriend, Florence Renou, a farmer from Brittany, came along. Also spotted at the bash were the Most Rev Walton Empey, Archbishop of Dublin, and Dr Donald Caird, the former archbishop of Dublin.
Barbara Dawson, director of the Hugh Lane Gallery, launched the book. "It documents a large family growing up on a farm," she said, encouraging us all to read it. It is the story of growing up, Protestant and landed, in 1950s Co Meath, as its publisher, New Island, proclaims.