The Brussels Sprout March 28th
Special from Ireland
The Queens Dutch yacht, the Nassau sailed into Galway Bay four days ago. The leaden skies turned the waters the color of slate. On the south side, the scoured stony slopes of the burren mark the northern extent of Clare, while the twelve bens of Connemara stand sentry in the north, like pillars holding up the low ceiling of dark clouds. Stretched across the mouth of Galway Bay are the Aran islands, barren highlands of rock and more rock, swaddled in a swath of green along the shore.
The small neat stone cottages dot vibrant green fields separated by low rock walls and regularly watered by the skies. Herds of sheep blanket areas like particularly low clouds. Small fishing craft, called currachs, dot Galway bay.
The Irish Government sent a contingent of their Irish Blue Hussars to serve as an Honor Guard to greet the Queens arrival in Galway, as well as serve as escorts during her stay.
Galway itself is a midsized town, with a sizable harbor supporting a shipping industry and fishing industry. New buildings grace the harbor area, denoting the presence of the American firm, Howard Electric Boat Company. In the harbor were symbols of Irelands growth, the two new Irish fisheries frigates, Deirdre and Eithne. Nearly complete, they were fitting out. The Deirdre had already been fitted with some weaponry and fired a salute as the Nassau passed.
The Queen has spent the first day in Galway, attending an obligatory dinner and paying her respects to the towns grandees. The Queen is traveling with several old friends and a small contingent of honor guards her governments insisted on. The Irish Blue Hussars proved likeable chaps and thorough professionals, quite proud of their land.
The Queen spent the past several days touring Mayo and Connemara in the Minerva sedan brought along for the purpose. This reporter was unable to accompany the Queen on that portion of her trip, but it is understood that she spent much of yesterday at the Monastery where Prince Charles der Belgen - des Belges now serves as Abbot. The Queen declined to answer what their conversation was about.
When asked how she found Ireland, she replied :
I am a great fan of touring, but I do not get to do much of it. The landscape here is so different from what I am used to that it is quite refreshing. The people are friendly but the cadence of their form of English is attractive, but a little difficult for this old ladies ears to catch.
When asked about the American firm and the regions future :
Well the National Schools provide a decent education, but there is no capital reserve here to put into development. I am told Ireland was famed for woollen goods, and there are plenty of sheep, but few textile mills and no capital to build one. Outside firms like Howard Electric Boat are a boon for the region as they bring in outside capital and provide good jobs, as well as attract other companies to support it.
When asked if the textile mills and other factories were possible investments opportunities :
One would not be surprised if there are such opportunities, the economy here was tied to mercantalist exports for too long. These are the types of development opportunities that we found so important to identify in the Kongo.
Your Majesty is known to have widespread investments and rumored to be extremely wealthy, is your Majesty considering investing?
While I am sure of the opportunity to do good here, I am rather on vacation, not scouting for investments at this time. Development is far more complex than it seems. What we found when we tried to the Kongo was that it was far to easy to pour time, effort and guilders into a project that would never prosper on its own. A great deal of research, planning and teaching must occur. That is why I established the Bank [of the Kongo], to create a entity that combined those skills with the financiers and capital to ensure the projects funded succeed.
What are your plans next?
Well the Nassau will take us across the Atlantic and back to New York City. I plan on calling on Sagamore hill and De Hollandsche Club, as well as seeing the city again. I have not been since invited to attend the tencentenary celebration in 1924.
This post has been edited 2 times, last edit by "Kaiser Kirk" (Aug 4th 2008, 8:21pm)