Monarch’s efforts to heal old wounds seals deal

While it has been claimed that Queen Elizabeth is not “in the business of doing deals”, she is being widely credited with clinching the historic meeting with Sinn Féin.

For while republican leaders have often had to carefully prepare their grassroots for such symbolic moves, in this case it is the Queen who seems to have done the spade work.

Her groundbreaking state visit to the Republic last year made the latest development in the peace process possible.