Ireland Diaries: Long live the King

Learning about Ireland's controversial (and only) monarch

The Irish town of Killorglin contains approximately 2,200 people, but every year they crown a new King. The role is ceremonial, and passed on every August. But if you visit Killorglin in County Kerry and ask someone if he has been King, however, he will definitely say no. That’s a guarantee.

That’s because the King is a goat.

I’m standing looking at a statue of King Puck, or at least a quite majestic recreation of him, that sits by the bridge in Killorglin. It’s really quite something to behold. He’s perched on a rock and he’s rocking his crown.

The statue, you’ll no doubt be as pleased as I am to note, is on Tripadvisor. Scandalously labelled as an attraction you can see in less than an hour (not me, I could stand and look at a goat with a crown on its head for days), it has an average rating of 4.0 out of 37 reviews.

I completely agree with CarolinaNurse323, who entitles it “A sight to behold!” Though I’m not sure I can stand with LotusExplorerTravels, who says it’s “Best seen from a tour bus.”

If you pass the statue on a tour bus you won’t be able to read all about the reason that a small town in Ireland has as its main point of interest a statue of a goat called King Puck. And, frankly, if you’re someone who doesn’t care why a small town in Ireland has as its main point of interest a statue of a goat called King Puck, well then you’re no friend of mine.

The reason is to commemorate the annual Puck Fair. It takes place on the 10-12th August each year in Killorglin, when someone from the town goes out and catches a wild goat. That lucky goat is then promptly brought into town and crowned King by the Queen of Puck Fair.

The Queen of Puck Fair is usually a local schoolgirl and being crowned Queen is a big deal. Each Queen also has Ladies-in-Waiting, which adds a real touch of class to the whole thing, if you ask me.

But, as is always the way, being Queen is not as a big of a deal as being King. This festival is all about the goat. As a reward for being King that year’s lucky guy is then stuck at the top of a stand for 3 days, at the end of which he is then freed back to the mountains from whence he came.

Like most festivals the Fair was cancelled in 2020 and 2021, and when it returned in 2022 it brought with it searing temperatures. It was so hot they had to get the goat down from his plinth on more than one occasion.

“Goat taken down from stand at King Puck festival again,” RTE said at the time with, in my view, just a hint of disapproval. You may be unsurprised to note that this festival, and its general tradition of sticking a goat on top of a stand for 3 days in the middle of summer is not hugely popular with those who have a particular passion for animal welfare.

I spend a few more minutes gazing at the statue, standing in the rain. I read the inscriptions which are, genuinely, terrific. “For hundreds of years, a male mountain goat has been enthroned as King of Puck Fair in Killorglin town…King Puck is a symbol of a vast tradition whose origins are lost in the mists of time.”

There are lots of theories about the start of the festival, but what everyone agrees on is that it’s very old, Ireland’s oldest according to the fair’s website. King James I issued a charter to allow a fair in Killorglin in 1613, though it’s unclear whether this involved any goat-related horseplay.

My only regret as I squint through the rain and gloom at the statue is that it’s not August and I’m not at the fair. I understand the controversy. Is it a bit weird to kidnap a goat and put it at the top of a stand for 3 days? Oh, sure. But do I want to see it? Absolutely.

The engravings around the statue have something else to say, “Kings may come and Kings may go. But King Puck goes on forever!” I suppose in this way Puck is like James Bond, or Doctor Who.

But not quite, because he’s a goat.

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