The invitation was sent to Mr Hillery and his wife for the wedding on July 29 1981 in St Paul’s Cathedral, and requested a reply by June 26. A briefing note on how to respond to the invite is among the State documents released by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the National Archives this year. It asked whether the reply should be issued after the Irish general election, or would it be “discourteous” to do so, while also noting that sending a reply too soon after the invite could also be “discourteous”. It added that with the “appropriate diplomatic excuse”, a refusal of the Irish President’s attendance would not “impair the political dialogue with London”. On June 26 1981, the final date by which the RSVP was to be given, Ireland’s Ambassador to the UK conveyed the Irish President’s thanks for the wedding invite but expressed “their regret that, because of prior commitments, they will be unable to attend”.

Source: The Herald December 27, 2023 05:07 UTC