The Beginning of the End & Queen Victoria in Ireland (1849)

In August 1849 Queen Victoria arrived in a famine ravaged Ireland. Contrary to what we might expect there were no protests and in many places the Queen received a rapturous welcome. However this only tells part of the story. This podcast takes you on a journey deep into one of Dublin’s most notorious slums – St Michan’s. There we follow the lives of a poor couple George & Bridget Shea. Their experience of the Great Famine was in its own unique way intertwined with the Victorias visit.

This story provides us with an evocative, fascinating and revealing contrast to the royal visit while also explaining the strangely passive response to the monarch’s arrival in Ireland. This episode also covers later 1849 as Dublin finally emerged from the Great Famine.