Darwin Rose jokes about being an unexpected thorn in festival’s side

She may be one of the belles of this year’s ball, but Darwin Rose Natalie Kelly was an unexpected thorn in the side of the competition when she was only a small child.

In 1991, the bubbly Cork woman’s mother, Hazel Carroll Kelly, applied to take part in the annual festival.

By her own daughter’s admission, the beautiful blonde — who later went on to win the Lovely Legs of Cork contest — wanted to take part in the Rose of Tralee so much that she initially didn’t tell the organisers about her then three-year-old daughter.