London Rose Takes Tralee Crown

For the second year in a row, the London Rose has been deemed the loveliest and fairest at the annual Rose of Tralee festival in Kerry.

And in an amazing coincidence, both last year's winner and this year's Rose grew up in the same town - Athy, Co. Kildare - and went to the same school.

Yet both were representing their adopted city of London when they took the crown.

This year's winner Clare Kambamettu (25) is an assistant psychologist - for now at least.

She plans to give up her job and move home to Ireland to fully enjoy her year as the Rose of Tralee.

She says the win has particularly delighted her father, Dr Ravi Kambamettu, who moved to Ireland from Hyderabad in India when he was in his twenties.

"He is in complete shock," she said after being crowned champion in the Dome in Tralee.

"He and my mum Breda both are. They're so excited that I'm going to be moving home, although I still need to hand in my notice!"

"I think it's fantastic that Ireland has become so multicultural and more and more diverse over the past ten years," she added.

"I just can't believe I'm getting this opportunity. I hope that I'll be able to represent not only the Indian community but different ethnic minorities around the world as well as I can."

In another amazing coincidence, it turns out that the new host of the ceremony, TV presenter Daithi O'Sé, used to teach in a boys' school next door to where Ms Kambamettu went to school.

The former teacher has been widely praised for his polished performance - as a native Kerryman, he received a rapturous reception inside the Dome as he introduced all 32 Roses.

The two-night TV show defies the critics to be one of the most-watched programs on Irish television each year.

This year, over one million viewers tuned in at 11.15pm to see the winner being announced.

An average of 916,300 viewers watched the second night of the event - the highest numbers in over a decade, according to RTE.

That makes it the most-watched program on any channel available in Ireland so far this year.