THE QUEEN’S SPEECH

QUEEN ELIZABETH last night offered her “sincere thoughts and deep sympathies” to those who have suffered due to the troubled past of Britain and Ireland — but stopped short of an apology.

In a landmark speech, the British head of state spoke of the personal pain visited upon her and others by the years of conflict and said, with hindsight, some things could have been done differently — and others not at all.

Her keynote remarks at a state banquet in Dublin Castle were greeted with prolonged applause as she addressed the blood- stained legacy shared by the two nations to an Irish audience for the first time in her 59-year reign.