British monarch George V admired Éamon de Valera's "rare gift of natural good manners", according to the latest volume in the series, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, launched by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern in Dublin last night.
The fifth volume, covering the period 1937-39, includes a confidential report from the Irish high commissioner in London, John W Dulanty, about a meeting at Buckingham Palace on March 4th, 1937, with King George VI, who revealed that his father "always had a quiet but real admiration for Mr de Valera".
It was his father's opinion, "that however you may differ politically you had to admire the president's rare gift of natural good manners. Both in Geneva and in London he said the president had widely established this reputation."
Speaking at the launch in Iveagh House, Mr Ahern stressed the importance of the collection for understanding the cross-channel relationship at the time.
"The dominant theme continues to be Anglo-Irish relations, and in particular Éamon de Valera's long project to completely reshape the relationship between Ireland and Britain, replacing the treaty with a relationship of complete and formal equality.
"This volume allows us to follow the tentative steps by which the two sides came together and negotiated the agreements of April 1938, which ended the economic war and brought the return of the Treaty Ports."
The Minister announced a €20,000 grant to make the records available on the internet.
