King's Footprints

King's Footprints

King George IV landed here in 1821

King George IV Footprints, recorded for posterity at Howth’s West Pier. It was there that he first set foot on Irish soil in August 1821. On his own birthday (he had just turned 59), he was said to arrive in very high spirits. ‘Very high spirits’ , of course, a polite way of saying he was pissed drunk. George, contemporary reports noted, “was received with the utmost enthusiasm by the inhabitants of Dublin.”

George stayed in Ireland for a number of weeks, departing the country via Dún Laoghaire, which was renamed ‘Kingstown’ in the aftermath of his visit. It would remain under that name until independence in 1922, and while the name has reverted