This is the story of the Ipswich girl who 162 years ago kissed a king. I told a version of this story live on Ipswich’s West Bremer Radio.

Sarah Matilda Carter was born in 1854 on Corfu which is one of the Ionian Isles in western Greece. Her father was William Carter, who following splendid service as sergeant major in the British Army with the 33rd (Duke of Wellington’s) Regiment in the Crimean War, was appointed the barrack master in charge of the garrison and the forts at Corfu.

Sarah immigrated to Ipswich, Queensland, where she married Mr Matthew McDermott. He laid down most of the water mains in Ipswich, was the council works overseer, Ipswich assistant clerk of petty sessions, and the registrar of births deaths and marriages for Ipswich and West Moreton.

McDermott must have spent most of his time registering his own family because he and Sarah had twelve children, and so would be related to half of the town today, including that great Ipswich and Australian cricketer Craig McDermott.

But Sarah had a romantic history even before she went to Ipswich. On the morning of Saturday the 21st of May 1864, on the island of Corfu, the British flag was lowered and the Greek flag raised amid a 21-gun salute.

Miss Sarah Carter then found herself in the company of the King of Greece, King George I. Sarah was shy as you could imagine but built up the courage to give the king a gift. The king smiled and the couple kissed, and into Sarah’s hand the king slipped a $5 note. This was a liaison that Sarah would never forget for all sorts of reasons.

It was a momentous event not only in Sarah’s life but in world history. You see, Britian had handed back the Ionian Islands to Greece following the Crimean War, and the respective statesmen were all there to watch.

There was the British soldier and the last High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, Sir Henry Storks. There was the commander of British troops in China and Hong Kong, Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Garrett. And there was George I, the King of Greece, who despite all the pageantry, still managed to sneak a kiss with Sarah.

Sarah’s father was the last British garrison commander on Corfu. It was Sarah’s role to hand to the King a scroll and the keys to the island. The king was so taken by the young lady that he kissed her. The $5 note that Sarah received, she kept it with her and showed it off everywhere she went in England before coming to Ipswich. Sarah was just ten years old at the time and the kiss was innocently on the cheek.

Sarah’s royal romance came to light in 1913 when the King was assassinated, and Sarah wrote to his sister Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who by that stage was Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, the wife of our own King Edward VII.

A royal reply was addressed to Sarah, who by then was Mrs Sarah McDermott of Thallon Street, Ipswich, and it was signed by the Queen’s lady of the bedchamber The Honourable Charlotte Knollys. You can imagine that the Ipswich postman would have been rather chuffed riding his bicycle down Thallon Street to deliver the royal letter that morning.

King George I of Greece, well he was the grandfather of Prince Philip, and the great-grandfather of our own King Charles today.

If things had worked out differently, the McDermotts may have been Ipswich’s royal family, and not just that famous family of cricketers.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A VERSION OF THIS STORY TOLD LIVE ON WEST BREMER RADIO.

Photo credits:
The Girl Who Kissed a King – Harold Peacock with Copilot.
The fortress was transformed from a peninsula into an artificial islet encircled by a water-filled moat – Visit Corfu Greek Reporter website.
John James McDermott – Peter 2024 on Frind a Grave website.
Sir Henry Knight Storks (1811-1874) 1870 – Wikipedia Commons.
King George I of Greece photo by Southwell Bros 1863 – Wikipedia Commons.
Queen Alexandra Portrait 1913 – Wikipedia Commons.