Kinsale to celebrate Archduke Ferdinand’s 1518 visit

While the people of Cork await the arrival of a royal visitor, one town in the county is set to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the unexpected arrival of another.

While Prince Charles is scheduled to tour Cork next week, the people of Kinsale will be out in force tomorrow to commemorate the day in 1518 that Archduke Ferdinand of the Habsburg dynasty sailed into their town.

Ferdinand, whose dynasty went on to rule the Austro-Hungarian empire, was on a cruise from Spain to the Netherlands when his fleet was blown out into the Atlantic by a storm.