‘Albert has to go’ – Peadar Tóibín calls for removal of statue of King Charles III ancestor from Leinster House

The coronation is over – please take Albert home, said Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD.

The statue of King Charles’s ancestor, Prince Albert – husband of 19th-century British monarch Queen Victoria – overlooks a lonely hedge at the back of Leinster House.

It once dominated the rear of the building, facing on to Merrion Square from the middle of the lawn.

It was moved to the side of the Natural History Museum after Irish independence, and a cenotaph to the Civil War dead eventually took the central location instead.

The statue of Albert is now almost completely enclosed by a hedge that has grown up around it over the years.

“The statue of Prince Albert should be removed from the Leinster House lawn,” said Mr Tóibín, who invited King Charles to pay for it to be shipped to England.

A corresponding statue of Queen Victoria stood in front of Leinster House, facing Kildare Street, where the plinth is now. It was put into storage after independence and was eventually sent to Sydney, Australia.

Aontú’s Mr Tóibín outlined the reasons the statue was not an appropriate choice for the seat of the Irish parliament.

“Prince Albert was the husband of British Queen Victoria, who was also known as the Famine Queen, given that she was the monarch that presided over the deaths of one million Irish people and the emigration of a further two million,” he said.

He did not watch the coronation TV coverage at the weekend as he is busy canvassing for Aontú candidates for the local elections in the North later this month.

“The reign of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert over Ireland was an unmitigated humanitarian disaster, from which Ireland has not recovered from yet in terms of population – yet we have a statute at the rear of Leinster House in Prince Albert’s honour,” he said.

Prince Albert was born a German, Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel. Through his marriage to Queen Victoria, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha retained the British throne.

The British royal family only changed its surname to Windsor during WWI.

The statue of Albert was unveiled at Leinster House before a large crowd in 1860, when Albert was aged 41.

It celebrates his industrial, artistic and scientific achievements. Albert died just a year later, aged only 42.

“I cant imagine any other mature democratic nation doing as we are in keeping Albert, with his history,” said Mr Tóibín, who made an effort in 2016 to have the statue removed.

“I’m not sure if it’s a form of post-colonialism or Stockholm syndrome within the political system – or just an inability to make a decision,” he added.

“The statute should be decommissioned.

“Its seems we are embarrassed enough to let the statue be overgrown by a hedge, but not enough to just remove the statue.

“Surely we have enough Irish people of note who have contributed and sacrificed for the development of the Irish State that we can come up with a person better suited to Leinster House Lawn?

“I am thinking of the many outstanding women who help build this Republic such as Hanna Sheehy Skeffington or Dr Kathleen Lynn.

“But one way or another, Albert has to go.”