Historic meeting may pave way for royal visit

THE historic meeting of President Mary McAleese and Queen Elizabeth II in the North yesterday could clear the way for an unprecedented State visit, Mrs McAleese said last night.

No British monarch has made such a trip since George V went to Dublin in 1911, a decade before partition.

Mrs McAleese had already met the queen at a reception in London earlier this year, but it was yesterday’s arrangement in the North which was so potentially significant.

Although Prince Philip and Prince Charles have made visits to the Republic, diplomats have been waiting for a time when the security and political situation is appropriate for an historic State trip by the queen.

Even though she stressed its timing was dependent on the peace process being finalised, Mrs McAleese emphasised the significance of their encounter at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down.

She said: “It was a very special day for Anglo-Irish relationships.”

Mrs McAleese stressed that a decision on when the queen should visit the Republic was not down to her.

“I’m long on record as saying that I would welcome it very warmly,” she said.

“But it’s a matter for the two governments.”

The timing of that visit depended on the “final consummation of the peace process in Northern Ireland”, Mrs McAleese stressed.

But she added: “I think things are developing. Things are going in the right direction, so the day gets nearer.”

The queen, dressed in a navy coat, skirt and matching hat, arrived in a black Land Rover following an engagement at a primary school in Hillsborough village.

Accompanied by Northern Secretary Peter Hain, she went inside the castle for the formal greeting with Mrs McAleese, who was wearing a purple Louise Kennedy skirt-suit.