Monarch chose to wear green to compliment host country

QUEEN ELIZABETH II wore green as she arrived in Dublin for the start of an historic four-day visit amid the tightest security ever mounted in the Republic.

The British monarch chose the colour in the first symbolic gesture of what will be an unprecedented and dramatic stay in the state — the first by a British monarch.

She wore a jade green coat and hat as she emerged from a flight which touched down on time at Baldonnel Aerodrome ahead of an official greeting by President Mary McAleese at her residence in the Phoenix Park, Áras an Uachtaráin. On official trips the queen often compliments host nations by incorporating national colours or emblems.