The Irish Embassy held a discussion on the life of Margaret Kearney Taylor to honour an Irish woman who founded her own embassy right here in Madrid and to celebrate International Human Rights Day.
Neither Irish nor an ambassador, Margaret Kearney Taylor was an intriguing woman well ahead of her time who held many more secrets than just her nationality and stepping inside the Irish Ambassador’s door, a full house was hiding behind the front door in what must have been the worst kept secret in Madrid.
I had not expected such a wonderful crowd and neither had RTÉ producer Tim Desmond. Mr Desmond along with Richard Fitzpatrick had produced a documentary for RTÉ called Tearoom, Taylor, Saviour, Spy in 2016 and gave great insight into Embassy.
Inside the Ambassador’s residence, the cat was well and truly out of the bag as people have slowly learnt about the secret life of Margaret Kearney Taylor and the Embassy she founded.
Not always a piece of cake.
Her Embassy was a tearoom which attracted many people from the neighbouring area and near-by embassies but it also attracted people from further afield who travelled to her tearoom for some help with their passport applications which wasn't always a piece of cake in 1930s/1940s Europe.
Like Oskar Schindler that earned Liam Neeson an Oscar nomination, Mary Kearney Taylor hob-knobbed with society’s finest while secretly helping some of the 30,000 people evacuated through Spain during the war.
Embassy might be an unusual name for a coffee shop but by the sounds of it, they definitely had their own passport section and kept a number of official secrets too. It is impossible to know how many people she helped along the way and many of her secrets have sadly been taken to the grave.
Her business was called Embassy but the only business anyone wanted to talk about on the night was espionage and the Embassy tearooms appear to have been a beautiful building that was used as a cafe and teashop located close to a number of embassies.
Embassy was located on Paseo de Castellana and opened in 1931 where it stayed open until last year.
PICTURED ABOVE: Ambassador Síle Maguire listens as Tim Desmond speaks about Embassy.
The owner served tea and cakes in the coffee shop and also sold cakes in a shop section but hidden away upstairs was a Schindler’s List operation going on where people were smuggled to safety under the watchful eyes of actual embassies.
Allied servicemen, as well as Jewish refugees, fled to England and Portugal through Embassy which I believe was separated from the German embassy by a church.
I’m sure her ability to keep church and state separate meant the difference between life and death for many of the asylum seekers who found refuge in Embassy.
It is unclear how many people were rescued by Margaret Kearney Taylor and her tearooms
or how many secrets she took to her grave but the Irish Ambassador would need plenty of tea to feed the crowd who had gathered to hear all about the legendary lady who created an elegant restaurant where Spanish society was unaware of the rescue mission taking place above guests’ heads even long after the war.
One friend of mine from the Bloomsday Society told me that she grew up visiting Embassy as her mother and grandmother frequented the establishment and another person explained that nobody could believe the extraordinary story being told about Margaret Kearney Taylor and actually believed it was all made up when a book came out about it.
Buried in the British cemetery, Margaret Kearney Taylor or Margarita as she was fondly known, took many secrets to her grave that I am sure only Churchill and a handful of his cabinet actually knew anything about it.
Margaret was born in a workhouse as was her mother before her. Her mother was Irish and this cake baking spy took on an Irish identity and rose through the ranks of society to dine with royalty from her very own Embassy.
The event was held to celebrate International Human Rights Day 2018 and was a very interesting look at the life of a spy way ahead of her time.
Thanks to Ambassador Síle Maguire and her staff for the warm welcome and reminder of the importance an Embassy in Madrid can play in aiding and promoting Human Rights.
Ambassador Síle Maguire shows Mexican art to RTE producers Tim Desmond & Richard Fitzpatrick.
Raidió Teilifís Éireann, left to right: Richard Fitzpatrick, Ambassador Síle Maguire & Tim Desmond.
The embassy welcoming guests Maria and Simon who had travelled all the way from Jerez.
Corner stop: Our own embassy celebrating the life of Margaret Kearney Taylor on Human Rights Day.
Comments