Sir Rod Stewart was overcome with emotion during an appearance on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show in 2019. The Maggie May hitmaker, 80, was presented with the first edition of a classic 1916 book by the host Ryan Tubridy. The singer has a famous cover of Grace, a song which depicts the life and tragic romance between Grace Evelyn Gifford Plunkett and Joseph Plunkett. The pair married in the chapel at Kilmainham Gaol just hours before Joseph was executed by a firing squad in 1916.
“We were trying to think of something as a present we could give to you because we like what you’ve done with that story,” Tubridy said. “So we’ve found a collection of poetry by Joseph Mary Plunkett and it was published in 1916, it’s a first edition and it’s our gift from us to you.”
Sir Rod was gifted a first edition book of poetry written by 1916 revolutionary Joseph Mary Plunkett.
Irish revolutionary leader Joseph married Grace just hours before he was executed for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising – which was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland.
After the wedding, Grace was allowed to spend ten minutes in her husband’s prison cell under heavy supervision.
She never married again, despite being just 28 years of age at the time of her husband’s execution. Grace died in Dublin in 1955 at the age of 67.
Rod was visibly emotional as he received the gift and said, “That is truly amazing, thank you so much.”
In an interview with Billboard, Rod previously said that he wasn’t allowed to perform ‘Grace’ during an appearance on BBC due to the anti-English overtones in the song.
“Also, they won’t let me sing ‘Grace’ because of its Irish, anti-English overtones in the song,” he said.
“Forget about it, it’s one of the greatest love songs ever written.
“The guy goes to his death 15 minutes the next morning after he’s been married and I can’t sing that one either.”