Fishmonger suits up for his visit to the Queen

The last time he was fitted for a new suit was for his Confirmation, he joked. And while his waist may have expanded ever so slightly over the years, his neck hasn’t changed a bit — it’s still as thick as ever.

The banter was flying yesterday as Ireland’s best-known fishmonger Pat O’Connell was fitted for a smart tailor-made suit to wear when he attends a reception hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace next week.

“Now I know what a mackerel feels like on the fillet table,” he laughed, as Fitzgerald Menswear boss Eddie Mullins took a measuring tape to Pat’s arms and legs during the hour-long fitting session at the store on St Patrick’s St.

He arrived for the fitting in his trademark white fishmonger’s jacket and striped blue hat, but within 30 minutes, Pat admitted he looked sharp enough to meet royalty.

“We’ll have to do some nipping and tucking all right — to the suit though, not Pat. He’s too far gone,” Eddie laughed.

Pat, who runs the family business in the English Market, made headlines around the world in 2011 when his ‘mother-in-law’ quip made the Queen laugh during her trip to the market as part of her historic State visit to Ireland.

That iconic photograph, captured by Valerie O’Sullivan, was flashed around the world. The Queen later said it was one of her favourite photographs, and asked Pat to sign it for her.

He has corresponded on several occasions with Buckingham Palace since, and sent the Queen a copy of his autobiography before Christmas.

He is now among several Irish people who have been invited to attend a reception next Tuesday for the Irish community, hosted by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, in advance of President Michael D Higgins’s groundbreaking three-day official State visit to the UK in April.

Fitzgerald Menswear agreed to dress Pat for the occasion and match his donation in lieu of the suit to one of his favourite charities, Marymount Hospice.

Following exhaustive research, Eddie decided to dress Pat in an elegant, two-piece, traditional-style pure wool French navy suit by Magee.

Pat tried on a crisp white, slim-fitting, double-cuff, 120-count pure cotton shirt from Italy’s Albini, with an extreme cut-away collar.

Eddie chose a 7.5cm-wide aqua-marine tie tinged with a subtle ice-blue polka-dot pattern to reflect Pat’s link to the sea.

And because he’s going to meet the Queen, Eddie said a Windsor knot is the only way to complete the tie.

Pat will wear a pair of black handcrafted, calf-leather brógs by Loake.

Pat and his wife leave Cork for England on Sunday ahead of next Tuesday’s reception.