Royal fan Jeanette misses invite to see Queen in Dublin

Jeanette Warke will have to content herself with celebrating the Royal visit by watching the event on television as she nurses her knee back to health after an operation to repair cartilage damage residual from a previous break.

Two weeks ago Jeanette received her invitation to be among the guests at Islandbridge - a picturesque area of Dublin where a sunken rose garden is dedicated to the memory of 49,400 Irish soldiers who died in the 1914-1918 war. The names of all the soldiers are contained in the granite bookrooms in the Gardens. These gardens are not only a place of remembrance but are also of architectural interest and of great beauty, and were designed by the famous architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens.

“I was invited to attend by the Department of Foreign Affairs, and I am so disappointed that I can’t go. I would have loved to have been there,” she said.

Unfortunately her invite is non-transferrable and non-refundable, and no member of the Warke family was able to make use of it.

“I’m gutted. Nobody from the family is going down. My invite was for Islandbridge memorial park and it’s lovely. As you can imagine I am just devastated not to be going. I would have been away like a shot if it weren’t for my knee,” she said.