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21st August 2024
09:45am BST
The Rose of Tralee 2024 finished up last night as the New Zealand Rose, Keely O’Grady, was crowned the winner.
The 21-year-old was crowned by last year's winner, New York Rose, Róisín Wiley, becoming the 64th Rose of Tralee.
However, while the Speech and Language Therapy student donned her sash on stage, viewers spotted a missing detail.
The lack of a winner's tiara this year had viewers taking to social media in confusion.
"Where is the tiara?" someone asked on X/Twitter.
"The tiara must have been left in Coppers or someplace like that and never made its return to the rightful owner, shame really," said another.
While praising Keely, another viewer had a similar question: "Beautiful girl well deserved!!! Is there no tiara anymore???"
Watch! New Zealand Rose Keely O'Grady chosen as the 2024 Rose of Tralee! #roseoftralee pic.twitter.com/culvWoYNHW
— Entertainment on RTÉ (@RTE_Ents) August 20, 2024
While a lot of people were asking about the lack of tiara this year, the headpiece was actually scrapped a few years ago.
The decision to leave the tiara in the past came after the Rose of Tralee International Festival conducted a survey among the public about their views of the event.
The feedback from the survey showed that people wanted to move away from the pageantry elements in order to modernise the event.
2022 Rose of Tralee winner, Westmeath Rose Rachel Duffy, explained the reasoning behind the move after her victory.
Speaking to Radio Kerry at the time, she said: "For all the young girls out there, it's about developing self-confidence and being okay with being yourself.
"You don't need a tiara to be a winner."
While some were taken by surprise by the decision, others were in the know, with one saying on social media: "All the wans going on about new #RoseOfTralee not wearing a tiara/crown or wondering where it is.
"Rose of Tralee hasn’t worn a tiara in years and when they did, it always looked clunky and kept falling off the poor lady’s head! It looked pretty uncomfortable to wear too."
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