One of Europe's last royal yachts, and the first to visit Irish waters since the Victorian era, is due to sail across Dublin Bay today with King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway on board.
As their Viking ancestors did centuries before them, the royal couple will berth on a Liffey bank, albeit a much more developed one, as part of the first leg of their three-day State visit to Ireland.
The king and queen flew into Ireland yesterday and joined the 80-metre KS Norge in Dún Laoghaire after it completed a journey from the Mediterranean via the Isle of Man. Crewed by the Norwegian navy, the vessel was built in 1936 and commissioned as a royal craft 10 years later.
Dún Laoghaire has hosted several British royal yachts and monarchs - as has Cobh, Co Cork. Weather permitting, the Norwegian couple will undertake at least part of an overnight sea journey tomorrow from Dublin to Cork harbour. The KS Norge will be escorted by a Norwegian naval vessel and the Naval Service flagship, LE Eithne. Queen Sonja intends to stay on the yacht and cruise along part of the west Cork coastline later this week following the official engagements.
The Norwegian monarchs are directly related to the last royal couple to visit Cobh - Queen Victoria's son, Prince Albert Edward, his wife Princess Alexandra and son Prince Albert Victor. Steps named after Princess Alexandra, and a plaque at the Naval base, Haulbowline, mark that occasion in 1885. Queen Victoria's own visit by sea to Cobh took place in 1849.
A similar plaque will be unveiled on Wednesday morning to mark the Norwegian arrival at the Naval base in Cork harbour, and King Harald V will open a conference on maritime governance at the National Maritime College of Ireland in Ringaskiddy.
The king and queen are due to meet President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as part of official engagements in Dublin today, which will include a short wreath-laying ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance and a formal dinner in Dublin Castle tonight.
