A brush with royalty on Tory Island

It’s not every ferry from which you disembark that a king is there to meet you with a firm handshake, writes Dan MacCarthy

In a lovely role reversal it is Tory Island which rolls out the red carpet for the visitor as the island’s resident king, Patsy Dan Rodgers, stands by the pier and greets every visitor with a firm handshake and a céad míle fáilte. It was his fellow islanders who conferred the title.

Tory is an Irish-speaking island with some English spoken according to the island’s website. And if you only have a cúpla focal that’s good enough too.