Recently discovered letters written by the late Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of former US President John F Kennedy, to an Irish priest are being withdrawn from auction.

The correspondence was due to be auctioned next month in County Laois for up to $5m.

The extremely private Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy wrote to Father Joseph Leonard, a Vincentian priest at All Hallows College in north Dublin from 1950 until his death in 1964....

But the would-be auction proved controversial.

Many felt its contents were private and should have been returned to the Kennedy family; that the privacy of a very private woman should be respected; and that no money should be made out of the sale of such correspondence.