Rod Stewart gets tearful recalling story of Irish rebel leader executed 15 minutes after marrying fiance

Scottish rock legend Rod Stewart shed a tear when he appeared on Irish TV and was presented with a very special gift.

Stewart was a guest on the Late Late Show with Ryan Tubridy over the 2019 St Patrick’s Day weekend.

During the show, Tubridy surprised Stewart with a first-edition copy of a poetry book written by Easter Rising hero Joseph Mary Plunkett.

Earlier in the week, Stewart had gone to Dublin’s Glasnevin cemetery, where he visited the grave of Plunkett’s widow Grace Gifford.

The story of Plunkett and Gifford means a great deal to Stewart and he even recorded the song Grace, which was written by Sean and Frank O’Meara about the couple.

Stewart’s visit to Gifford’s final resting place didn’t go unnoticed by the Late Late Show producers and host Tubridy surprised the star with his gift.

Tubridy told the rocker: “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.

“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.”

The singer was moved to tears by the gift and told Tubridy: “That is truly amazing, thank you so much.”

Stewart had once tried to perform ‘Grace’ on the BBC but was told he couldn’t due to ‘anti-English’ connotations.

He said: “They won’t let me sing “Grace” because of its Irish, anti-English overtones in the song. 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.”

Take a look at the video below.

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