Historic Visit

When reviewing 2011, many Irish people felt that the highlight of the year was the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth to the Irish Republic for four days in May, the first by a British monarch since independence. The success of the visit, with mutual warmth and a spirit of reconciliation, exceeded all expectations. It was a visit full of symbolism, arriving dressed in green, bowing at the garden of Remembrance in memory of those who died for Irish freedom, remembering 49,400 Irish who lost their lives in the British Army during the first World War at the National War Memorial in Islandbridge, and visiting Croke Park where nineteen civilians were shot, fourteen fatally, by British troops in 1920.

In her address at a state reception in Dublin Castle, Queen Elizabeth referred to the pain of the past and said: “We can all see things we wish we had done differently or not at all”. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland (1997-2011), who did so much to arrange the visit, in her reply stated: “This visit is a culmination of the peace process. It is an acknowledgement that while we cannot change the past, we have chosen to change the future”.