The planned itinerary for the visit of the King and Queen of the Belgians to the Cliffs of Moher was cast aside yesterday as the couple were spellbound by the spectacular vistas from the 182m-high (600ft) cliffs.
King Albert II and Queen Paola were due to spend 40 minutes at the renowned tourist attraction, but ended up staying for 1½ hours taking in views of the Atlantic and a tour of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre. Speaking after waving the couple and their entourage goodbye, director of the centre Katherine Webster said: "their majesties were blown away by what they saw here."
The couple arrived shortly after 3pm and, reflecting the strong interest the two generate in the Belgian media, a large group of press and TV cameramen gathered near O'Brien's Tower for a scheduled photo opportunity.
Such was the intense competition for the best vantage point that cameramen jostled with one other and one punch was thrown but did not connect. After the little melodrama staged by the photographers, the royal couple arrived, with King Albert walking with a limp, and the two happily posed for photographs with the southern end of the cliffs in the background.
Ms Webster then explained to the two royal visitors that the O'Brien's Tower was built in the 1835 by Clare MP Cornelius O'Brien and was the first "visitor centre at the cliffs".
After the photographers departed, the visit assumed an informal air with the king and queen behaving like tourists and taking their own photographs.
This they did with King Albert taking out his own camera and taking photos of Queen Paola with Inis Oir and the other two Aran Islands in the background.
Mayor of Clare Patricia McCarthy also posed with the royal couple for photos taken by King Albert's camera.
Ms Webster also pointed out to the royal couple the place in the sea below where the Aill na Serreacht wave occurs.
The wave could be seen yesterday, but nowhere near the 18m (60ft) high wave that is now tempting surfers from all around the world.
She said: "there was a little bit of swell there today, so they were fascinated by the story around the wave."
The visit to the cliffs marked the end of the couple's three-day State visit to Ireland and they flew back to Belgium from Shannon airport yesterday evening.
