McGuinness’s handshake with Queen to go public

A picture of the historic handshake between Queen Elizabeth II and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness will be flashed around the world — despite earlier suggestions no photograph would be released.

As Government ministers accused Sinn Féin of nakedly manipulating the meeting, which takes place at a private event on Wednesday, it emerged the moment would be recorded. Days of confusion surrounding whether the first official encounter between the commander in chief of the British army and a senior Sinn Féin figure would be captured for posterity underlined the sensitivity involved in the occasion.

The North’s deputy first minister — and former deputy commander of the IRA’s Derry organisation in the early 1970’s — will be a guest at a function hosted by Queen Elizabeth and President Michael D Higgins in Belfast.