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Interview

Princess Grace Irish Library – “What’s the story?”

There’s a little corner of Ireland just a few minutes’ walk from the Prince’s Palace

If you aren’t specifically looking for the Princess Grace Irish Library, you might easily walk past it. And yet behind its unimposing exterior on rue Princesse Marie-de-Lorraine lies a veritable cultural hub that is very much part of Monaco life. 

The Library was founded in 1984 by Prince Rainier III in memory of his late wife, Princess Grace. Grace Kelly, as she was known before she married the Prince, was the grand-daughter of John Henry Kelly, who emigrated from County Mayo, Ireland to Philadelphia in the United States. The Library was created to honour Princess Grace’s attachment to her Irish origins, and is home to her personal collection of books and Irish-American sheet music, as well as beautiful reference books (including many rare first editions) and items of historical value, photos and art works. 

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Its Director since January 2021, Paula Farquharson, took us on a tour and shared a bit of craic*

Monaco Tribune: Your website mentions over 12,000 books, many of which are from Princess Grace’s personal collection. Can you describe the kinds of books you have?

Paula Farquharson: We have a wide variety, from the latest best sellers by Irish authors back to a first edition of Ulysses by James Joyce dated 1922, and some even older volumes, such as the ‘Atlas Hibernia’ from 1654! I’d say we have 1500 to 2000 reference works out of the 12000 total. New books are added each year especially for the children’s section as they are voracious readers!  We have contemporary poetry, fiction and drama, scholarly monographs, and general works, including key reference works and leading illustrated publications, so that we can cater to modern readers as well as scholarly researchers. Our pride and joy is, of course, Princess Grace’s personal collection, not only of books but also artwork and sheet music she acquired during her lifetime, as well as beautiful objects from her family in Ireland. Our book catalogue is now available online, free of charge.

What sets you apart from, say, Monaco’s médiathèque (media library), which has an English-language section?

I think the clue’s in our name! (smiles) We are specifically an Irish Library rather than a library with books in English. Our readers are often interested in Irish authors in particular, others want to learn about other aspects of Ireland and its culture. Sometimes people don’t realise that some famous writers were Irish such as Oscar Wilde or F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby or Bram Stoker, author of Dracula!  For many parents there’s a desire to have their children experience an English-speaking environment from a language or cultural point of view. There is a big English-speaking community in Monaco, whether ‘first generation’ or otherwise, including by marriage, so all sorts of nationalities come through the door!

What kind of relationship do you have with the médiathèque?

A positive and constructive one! Monaco’s Médiathèque is very supportive of our events and promotes them. In fact, we’ve organised authors’ readings in English on their premises in the past. And for St Patrick’s Day last year, we co-organised an event, with the guest musician performing at the Sonothèque José Notari, the Médiathèque’s music venue. 

As we have a bigger collection of English-language books, the Médiathèque points readers in our direction when appropriate. And if we know they have a specific item that we don’t, we do the same. Monaco is certainly ‘big enough for the both of us’. They have also kindly shared access to the hundreds of magazines and newspapers that they subscribe to so the PGIL members can enjoy them. We’re both about promoting reading and we’re very complementary in terms of publications and readership. 

How many Library cardholders do you have?

If I gave you a number, you would probably find it pretty negligible. We’ve come to realise just how widespread our guests are. Borrowing a book creates an obligation to return it. And it’s easy to spend a couple of hours trying to get in and out of Monaco depending on where you live, so guests are a little wary about taking out a card they might not make full use of. Plus, given that we’re such a small team, ‘chasing’ lapsed cardholders takes time that’s hard to find. The cardholder number isn’t very indicative of our overall activity. 

Paula Farquharson and the first edition of Ulysses by James Joyce
Paula Farquharson holding the first edition of Ulysses, a masterpiece by James Joyce / Alizée Mosconi

Not just about books

For sure, even a cursory glance at your website tells us you’re ‘not just about books’. How important is the cultural side of your activities?

Our mission is to foster a love of Ireland, its culture, history and present day, through learning and creative thought, by engaging audiences, locally in Monaco and internationally. So, sharing the literary legacy, and having young readers discover Irish authors and illustrators, is certainly a big part of that. Classes from the lycées attend lectures and are very lucky to meet one-on-one with award-winning Irish authors.

But we also organise a raft of cultural events, whether it’s readings, talks, symposia, musical evenings… Obviously when people think about Irish Culture, St Patrick’s Day is high on the list, and we do try to push the boat out and the Prince’s Palace is lit up in green. However, we have a busy calendar of events all year round especially this year since it is our 40th birthday and people can drop in anytime to read or watch an Irish film. This year we’re screening from time to time “Her name was Grace Kelly” an insightful documentary with testimonials from family members, friends and those who knew her.

How do you engage with the local community, to ‘get people through the door’?

Through articles like yours! (laughs) More seriously, the local media and radio are important to us in that regard. We have our Facebook pages, one of which is specifically for young readers. The content is mostly event-driven, whether it’s about new publications in the Library or upcoming talks or concerts.  We also work with local schools for workshops and book readings. 

I often say Irish people are chatty, and word-of-mouth certainly can be effective in a small community like Monaco. The British and American associations help us get the word out too, and people can join our mailing list to receive our Newsletter – nearly 880 recipients and counting. The popularity of our events is evident as we’re often sold out! We had a full house for our most recent talk (on February 21, by author Neal Doherty about county Mayo in the west of Ireland, where Princess Grace’s grandfather was born) and the upcoming one on March 13th, by writer-in-residence Flor MacCarthy, is sold out! Hence why we’ve just announced another date for Flor’s talk on March 20th.

Members of the Princely Family visit when they can, and there’s usually quite a lot of publicity around those times, which certainly helps our notoriety. But more than that, we’re in the privileged position of being able to welcome ‘home’ Princess Grace’s family with a ‘direct line’ to their Irish heritage. It’s quite unique.

How are you funded?

We rely on donations, and the Prince’s family via the Fondation Princesse Grace to support our mission. There are also the fees paid by our cardholders, and ticket sales to our events. Along with The Ireland Funds Monaco Bursaries, which enables us to host academics- and writers-in-residence and the Irish writers, academics and musicians we manage to have a rich programme of events, residencies and symposia, which I mentioned earlier. We have also established a number of partnerships with sponsors that ‘make sense’, in other words where there’s an Irish connection.

Having our own premises is such a blessing

Paula Farquharson

Why aren’t you open at the weekend?

Like I said, we’re a small team! We need some time off! (laughs) Joking aside, members of the local community are often elsewhere at the weekend. We noticed a much better turnout for our mid-week events. Of course, that means liaising with other organisations such as the American Club and British Association to make sure our events don’t clash! But having our own premises is such a blessing, and it means we can host events on behalf of others, such as the Monaco Ireland Arts Society. These are great opportunities for meeting people, sharing ideas, and creating new connections.   

A Monaco Tribune scoop!

Paula is hoping to be able to convince film director Frank Mannion to do a talk, and organise a screening of his latest documentary, ‘Quintessentially Irish’ when he comes to Cannes this year. Watch this space! 

“You know the Irish have always been travellers, but there’s also a very strong sense of home. I think the Irish have a natural sense of belonging, and we’re good at making friends. People need that, there’s a lot of ‘fake’ out there.”

So, if you’re from the Emerald Isle and feeling homesick, or you’re looking for a community to belong to, ‘come into the parlour’ at 9 rue Princess Marie de Lorraine, where Céad Míle Fáilte** await you.

 * craic: pronounced crack, is commonly used in Irish slang to describe a good time, a fun experience, or a friendly conversation.
** Céad Míle Fáilte : a hundred thousand welcomes in Irish gaelic. 


Practical details: 
9 rue Princesse Marie-de-Lorraine, Monaco-Ville
Tel + 377 93 50 12 25

Socials: Facebook and Princess Grace Irish Library Young Readers

Membership Fees: 

  • Adults – €25 (to be renewed every year) 
  • Children/Students – €8 (one-off payment: membership lasts until the child is aged 18 years old or when the student finishes studies at university/third-level education) 
  • Family – €50 (to be renewed every year)

Opening hours: 

Monday to Thursday 9am-5pm & Fridays 9am-4pm. Closed weekends.