Letter from Frederick H. Boland to Seán Nunan (Dublin)
(54/27) (Secret)

When I was with Sir Stephen Holmes¹ on Saturday morning, he told me he wished to raise with me very informally, the question what, if anything, we wished to do about the Coronation which is to take place next June. He emphasised that he was not looking for any reply at this stage, he was only mentioning the matter so that we would have an opportunity of looking into it before the matter came up officially.

The first question which arose was whether or not we wanted an allocation of seats on the Coronation route. He indicated that seats would be allotted both to foreign and to Commonwealth missions but that the allocations in the case of the latter would be larger than in the case of the former. If we were treated on the same basis as Commonwealth countries, we would be allotted about 150 seats; if we were not, the allocation would be much smaller.

The second question which would arise – although at a much later stage was the question of our representation at the Coronation ceremony itself. Practically every country, Commonwealth and other, would be sending special representatives and a certain number of seats were being allocated to every diplomatic mission for the accommodation of their representatives in the Abbey. In our case, the allocation on the general basis would probably be four or five seats.

I hope to get over to Ireland for some leave next week and this is one of the matters which might perhaps conveniently be discussed while I am over there. It is easier to handle it that way, I think, than by correspondence. As you will see from my letter of 29th May last to Sheila Murphy,² we are plagued with applications from Irish citizens for seats on the coronation route.