Irish President On Historic Visit To Britain

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 08 April 2014 | 20.18

Fact More Far-Fetched Than Fiction

Updated: 2:09pm UK, Tuesday 08 April 2014

By David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent

You expect to see the Union flag on the streets of Windsor. You don't expect to see the Irish tricolour on the lampposts.

Britain and Ireland have come a long way in the 25 years I've been reporting their complex relationship.

Time and time again, we think we're witnessing the most historic of moments and then another comes along to top it.

We've had the ceasefires, the Good Friday Agreement, the decommissioning of weapons and devolved government at Stormont.

The last three US Presidents have visited and Northern Ireland has hosted the G8 Summit of world leaders in Enniskillen.

Three years ago, the Queen became the first British monarch to visit Ireland since it gained its independence.

Today, Michael D Higgins has become the first Irish President to pay a state visit to the United Kingdom.

It takes around an hour to cross the Irish Sea.  It has taken the British and Irish Heads of State around a century. 

Her Majesty stunned Ireland by honouring those who fought for freedom at Dublin's Garden of Remembrance.

The laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is the Irish President's reciprocal act of reconciliation.

Few will forget the reaction of former President Mary McAleese as Her Majesty addressed her in Irish.

She mouthed the word "wow" when the Queen opened her speech at the state banquet in Dublin.

State banquets have a habit of staging wow moments for those of us observing British-Irish relations.

Who'd have thought they'd see the day when Martin McGuinness donned full ceremonial evening dress to dine with the Queen?

Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister was the second in command of the IRA on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry.

Michael D Higgins, the poet turned President, once wrote a piece entitled: 'When Will My Time Come?'

Little did he know he'd be Head of State when the time came to let bygones be bygones with the neighbours.

Last weekend, I asked Ireland's Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore if he felt the state visit would turn another page.

"We're not just turning the page," he replied, "we're writing another chapter and we're well into the book now."

Most of us would have dismissed the story of peace as far-fetched had we not watched it unfold before our eyes.


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