queen visits to ireland

Queen Elizabeth remembered in Ireland for historic reconciliation

Expressions of sympathy in Ireland demonstrate how Queen Elizabeth II achieved healing in the fraught history of Ireland and Britain.

Queen Elizabeth II reigned for more than 70 years and for 30 years during that time a vicious conflict was fought in the part of her United Kingdom known as Northern Ireland.

About 3,600 people were killed and more than 30,000 wounded from 1969 until the signing of an agreement in 1998, which largely brought peace between those fighting against British rule in the northern province of Ireland, and those battling to preserve and defend the union with Britain.

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The fighting, euphemistically known as “the Troubles”, was brutal, bitter, and sectarian.

British troops, the Northern Irish security services, Irish Republican Army (IRA) fighters, and pro-British Loyalist armed groups bombed and shot, killed and maimed, as they turned city streets and rural towns into guerrilla-war battlefields.

For generations of Irish nationalists and republicans, the British Crown and its forces were an enemy responsible for the degradation of centuries of colonial rule in Ireland.

Yet, on Thursday, two Irish soldiers lowered Ireland’s tricolour flag to half-staff at a government building in Dublin to mark the queen’s death . Irish embassies around the world also followed suit and lowered the republic’s flag as a mark of respect.

The Irish flag has been lowered to half mast at Government Buildings this evening to mark the death of HM Queen Elizabeth. Statement from Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD ➡️ https://t.co/luw9aLl0sl pic.twitter.com/kvs7Ki9zwv — MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) September 8, 2022

The flag at the Embassy has been lowered to half staff to mark the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. pic.twitter.com/HDm959iFSL — Embassy of Ireland Cairo (@IRLEmbCairo) September 9, 2022

Ireland’s President Michael D Higgins issued a statement “on behalf of the people of Ireland” expressing heartfelt sympathy.

Former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams – who had headed the party once commonly referred to as the political wing of the IRA – retweeted a message of condolence from the republican party’s current leader.

“To the Royal Family and all who mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth, especially Irish Unionists, I extend sincere sympathy,” Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald wrote in a tweet.

“She lived a long, full life. In her lifetime relationships between our countries were changed and changing. I salute her contribution to this transformation.”

To the Royal Family and all who mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth, especially Irish Unionists, I extend sincere sympathy. She lived a long, full life. In her lifetime relationships between our countries were changed and changing. I salute her contribution to this transformation — Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) September 8, 2022

The expression of sympathy in Ireland from all quarters demonstrates how Queen Elizabeth achieved something remarkable in the fraught history of the two countries.

And it began with a visit.

Symbols and reconciliation

In 2011, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland since the country fought and gained independence from London almost a century earlier.

During her four-day trip, the queen wore green – the symbolism not lost in a country referred to as the “emerald isle”.

She laid a wreath at a monument dedicated to those who had fought and died for Irish independence from Britain.

She stepped onto the pitch at Dublin’s Croke Park stadium, the home of traditional Irish sport and the scene of a mass killing of 14 people by British forces almost 100 years earlier.

Then at a dinner in Dublin Castle, the former nerve centre of British rule in Ireland, the queen spoke some words in the Irish language.

The queen’s use of Gaelic, once banned under British rule, to begin her speech drew an audible gasp of surprise and a spontaneous round of applause from guests in attendance.

Min @EamonRyan described as "pivotal" the moment Queen Elizabeth spoke Irish at the State dinner in Dublin Castle in 2011 pic.twitter.com/zQa0T6yWbK — Morning Ireland (@morningireland) September 9, 2022

The queen’s visit – during which she expressed regret for centuries of conflict between the two countries – was a powerful gesture of reconciliation for Britain’s bloody past in Ireland.

Her description of the two countries as “firm friends and equal partners”, and her many other gestures, had the power to reset relations with Britain for more than one generation in Ireland.

“During those memorable few days eleven years ago, the queen did not shy away from the shadows of the past,” President Higgins wrote in his message of condolence.

“Her moving words and gestures of respect were deeply appreciated and admired by the people of Ireland.”

Healing history

A year after her visit to Ireland, the queen met and shook the hand of former IRA commander and then-Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, the late Martin McGuinness, in Belfast.

That handshake was historic.

The IRA had killed the queen’s cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten – the last viceroy of India – in 1979 when they blew up his fishing boat in Donegal Bay, in the republic’s northwest. Three other relatives of Mountbatten died in the attack.

Thirty years of bloodshed between Irish nationalists, pro-British loyalists, and the British military in British-run Northern Ireland was largely ended by the 1998 peace deal that was brokered by Irish and British leaders.

But it was the queen’s visit 13 years after the signing of the peace agreement that provided a degree of personal, historic healing.

Writing in Britain’s Guardian newspaper shortly after the Queen’s visit, Irish columnist Fintan O’Toole summed up a feeling likely experienced by many Irish people.

“There are, presumably, two rules the Queen has absorbed so deeply that they have become instinctive: don’t take risks; don’t stir emotions,” O’Toole wrote.

“She broke both rules in Ireland last week,” he wrote.

“To the great surprise of those of us who have little time for monarchy, she walked that line with amazing grace. It is not simply that she didn’t put a foot wrong. It is that every step seemed exactly right.”

• Entertainment

A friend to Ireland: How the Queen’s visit here made history between two nations

‘A Uachtaráin agus a cháirde,’ the historic address began. Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Ireland in 2011 made history both as the first British monarch to visit Ireland in 100 years and the first since the nation gained independence from Britain.

That brief but powerful greeting ‘president and friends’ as Gaeilge, marked a significant softening of relations between Ireland and Britain. Today Britain is shrouded in grief after its beloved Queen, a good friend to Ireland, died ‘peacefully’ at Balmoral yesterday at the age of 96.

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Story continues below.

As her distraught family gathered at her Highland home, the new King – who will be known as Charles III – last night spoke of their ‘greatest sadness’ and said her death would be ‘deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world’.

Crowds carrying floral tributes gathered at the gates of Buckingham Palace, Windsor and Balmoral last night. Tonight Charles will give his first televised address to his country and Commonwealth as King, which he will have recorded earlier in the day. Sources said he has a ‘clear idea of what he intends to say’.

During her historic 2011 visit the Queen acknowledged the dificult history between our islands: ‘To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past, I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy.

‘With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.’

During the four-day State visit, she won praise after she laid a wreath and bowed her head in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance to pay tribute to the rebels who rose up against British rule in 1916 and for speaking that little bit of Irish during the State banquet at Dublin Castle.

Feargal Purcell, a government press adviser to then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny, said that ‘a huge amount of history got condensed into that moment’.

He added: ‘I remember hearing Mary McAleese when the Queen started speaking Irish. You could hear her amazement.

‘She exclaimed, and you could hear it. Not because she said it loudly, because she whispered it, but there wasn’t a sound to be heard in the room beyond what the Queen was saying.

‘I think that froze everybody. Time slowed down a little bit, in that moment, and what got condensed into that was a lot of hurt and a lot of healing.

‘It went from being a nervous situation to being a kind of mutual respect and moved into joy.’.

Last night, the Defence Forces military police lowered the Irish flag to half-mast outside Government Buildings in Dublin after the announcement of her death.

In a tribute, President Michael D Higgins said the Queen ‘did not shy away from the shadows of the past’ during her visit, and that her ‘moving words and gestures of respect were deeply appreciated and admired by the people of Ireland’.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said her 2011 visit ‘marked a crucial step in the normalisation of relations with our nearest neighbour’.

Mr Purcell said Mrs McAleese was important in laying the foundations in the years before the visit and that the maturing of the relationship was fast-tracked under her presidency.

Mr Kenny’s government had just come into power after winning an election three months earlier, but the significance of the Queen’s upcoming visit ‘was not lost on anybody’, Mr Purcell said.

He added: ‘The focus was on getting it right. It was seen for the opportunity that it turned out to be. It was a very fraught economic time for Ireland. There was a concern, and such was the public reaction that that seemed to almost evaporate.

‘It was almost as if that moment gave licence to us all to move on. Every party has to move on for the shared history, but that line in that speech seemed to be a gateway into a more equal and mature relationship.’

Of the Queen’s bow at the Garden of Remembrance, Mr Purcell remarked: ‘On reflection, what’s recurring to me is the power of the personal gesture – unbelievable power in the words spoken at Dublin Castle, and in that bow.

‘The bow seemed to me to be the action that backed up the words in Dublin Castle. It was the action, so if you look at the words, and you look at the memorial, the bow, you could tie one to the other.

‘So it seemed to me the Queen was determined that the visit was going to have an outcome.’

Another defining moment of her visit was her trip to Cork’s historic English Market where among other traders, she met fishmonger Pat O’Connell. The treasured episode was captured and remains hung today behind the fish stall that Mr O’Connell’s mother Kathleen founded in 1962.

The Queen broke into a smile of genuine warmth as Mr O’Connell quipped about calling an ugly monkfish ‘the mother-in-law fish’ and the happy scene made its way to newspapers around the world.

Mr O’Connell later said: ‘We are influenced by history and we won’t forget history but there comes a time when you say, “It’s time to move on”. And at the end of the day, we have more in common with Britain than what separates us.’

Photographer Ray McManus photographed the Queen as she was escorted around the grounds of Croke Park in Dublin by Mrs McAleese and the then president of the GAA, Christy Cooney.

British forces shot dead 14 spectators at a Gaelic football match held in the stadium in 1923.

He said: ‘She was very pleasant,’ adding that the tour of the stadium was ‘very cordial, very relaxed’. Mr McManus added: ‘It was very ordinary, down-to-earth, there was no airs or graces about it. She didn’t say a whole lot, which I think is her way.

‘I remember taking a particular shot where she smiled profusely under the GAA logo with 1884 on it. She just happened to stand between me and the GAA crest. I didn’t particularly move or she didn’t particularly move. But she just happened to stand there under the crest.

‘There was a line of former presidents of the GAA and she was introduced to them all and shook hands with them all. All very senior GAA people who you wouldn’t have thought would be lining up to shake hands with the Queen. But they were.’

Four years after the Queen’s visit, her son Charles, now King, visited the harbour village Mullaghmore in Co. Sligo where the IRA murdered his great uncle, and the Queen’s cousin, Lord Mountbatten in 1979.

Of the Queen’s visit and of US President Barak Obama to Ireland three days later, Mr Purcell said ‘the people parked their pain, and people were in a lot of pain financially and other ways, and seemed to embrace all those things. ‘One of the things we might look at as neighbours, is to remind ourselves of what the Queen’s legacy might be for these islands.’

With additional reporting Gráinne Ní Aodha

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Reflections on Queen Elizabeth II's historic trip to the Republic of Ireland in 2011

• Republic of Ireland
• Friday 9 September 2022 at 8:50am

In 2011, Queen Elizabeth II made an historic visit to the Republic of Ireland. It's widely remembered as a cordial affair - making history both as the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland in 100 years, and the first since the nation gained independent from Britain.

It what was one of the most significant moments of her 70-year-reign, a series of cultural events and symbolic gestures set the pace for closer Anglo-Irish relations, while surpassing expectations with the candour with which the Queen spoke during a speech at Dublin Castle.

Following the announcement of her death, Irish President Michael D Higgins said the Queen "did not shy away from the shadows of the past" during her visit, and that her "moving words and gestures of respect were deeply appreciated and admired by the people of Ireland".

Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said her 2011 state visit "marked a crucial step in the normalisation of relations with our nearest neighbour".

During the four-day visit, the Queen won praise after she laid a wreath and bowed her head in Dublin's Garden of Remembrance to pay tribute to the rebels who rose up against British rule in 1916; and for speaking Irish in an address to a state banquet at Dublin Castle.

"A Uachtarain agus a chairde," her address began, the Irish for 'president and friends'.

The then Irish President, Mary McAleese, who was seated beside the Queen during the event exclaimed a "wow", and the audience erupted into applause.

The Queen continued: "To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past, I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy.

"With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently, or not at all."

Feargal Purcell, a former government press adviser who served Enda Kenny, said "a huge amount of history got condensed into that moment".

"I remember hearing Mary McAleese when the Queen started speaking Irish," he added.

"You could hear her amazement. She exclaimed and you could hear it. Not because she said it loudly, because she whispered it, but there wasn't a sound to be heard in the room beyond what the Queen was saying.

"I think that froze everybody. There was a bit of a time slowed down a little bit, in that moment, and what got condensed into that was a lot of hurt, and a lot of healing.

"It almost happened in real time: the healing and hearing that happened in that moment in that speech, a huge amount of history got condensed into that moment.

"It went from being a nervous situation to being a kind of mutual respect, and moved into joy" all over the course of the four-day visit, he said.

"He added that the McAleeses were important in laying the foundation in the years before the visit, and that the maturing of the East-West relationship was fast-tracked under Mrs McAleese's presidency.

Mr Kenny's government had just come into power after winning an election three months earlier, but the significance of the Queen's upcoming visit "was not lost on anybody", Mr Purcell said.

"The focus was on getting it right. It was seen for the opportunity that it turned out to be."

When asked whether the visit exceeded expectations from that moment in Dublin Castle, he said: "It did."

"It was a very fraught economic time for Ireland, and (the visit) seemed to be a place for everyone to go.

"It seemed as if there was this nervousness initially," he said. "There was a concern. And such was the public reaction that that seemed to almost evaporate.

"The security operation was significant, but it seemed to just calm and the story around the visit is that everyone settled into it, and that it became a hugely positive experience for everybody.

"Partly, initially relief, I think, and then it gained momentum. But I think that was down to the Queen mostly, and that moment.

"Because it was almost as if that moment gave licence to us all to move on. Every party has to move on for the shared history, but that line in that speech seemed to be a gateway into a more equal and mature relationship."

Of the Queen's bow at the Garden of Remembrance, Mr Purcell remarked: "It's amazing. All the words in the world, all the diplomacy in the world is really important.

"On reflection, what's recurring to me is the power of the personal gesture: unbelievable power in the words spoken at Dublin Castle, and in that bow.

"The bow seemed to me to be the action that backed up the words in Dublin Castle. It was the action, so if you look at the words, and you look at the memorial, the bow, you could tie one to the other.

"So it seemed to me that the Queen was determined that the visit was going to have an outcome."

Photographer Ray McManus photographed the Queen as she was escorted around the grounds of the Croke Park stadium in Dublin by Mrs McAleese and the then president of the GAA, Christy Cooney.

British forces shot dead 14 spectators at a Gaelic football match held in the stadium in 1920.

"She was very pleasant," he said, adding that the tour of the stadium was "very cordial, very relaxed".

"It was very ordinary, down-to-earth, there was no airs or graces about it.

"She didn't say a whole lot, which I think is her way. I remember taking a particular shot where she smiled profusely under the GAA logo with 1884 on it," he said, describing a golden GAA crest in the shape of a Celtic cross on a blue background.

"She just happened to stand between me and the GAA crest. I didn't particularly move or she didn't particularly move... But she just happened to stand there under the crest. And the gold of the crest and the golden colour, the yellow she had on at the time, just all matched in."

When Queen Elizabeth II made a historic trip to Ireland

The first official visit to ireland by a british monarch in 100 years, queen elizabeth was widely applauded for her gestures of reconciliation while on her four-day trip to ireland in 2011..

Queen Elizabeth II traveled to Ireland on May 17, 2011, becoming the first British monarch in 100 years to do so.

In light of the Brexit confusion and the lack of current government in Northern Ireland, it’s sometimes hard, even in this 24th anniversary year of the signing of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, to remember the enormous strides toward peace that the island of Ireland has made.

Queen Elizabeth II’s four-day trip to Ireland in 2011 is one of those moments that should be celebrated for showing just how far peace has come.

• WATCH: Queen Victoria during her final visit to Ireland in 1900
• Queen Elizabeth is a descendant of Irish High King Brian Boru

As the first British monarch to make an official state visit to Ireland in 100 years, Queen Elizabeth II arrived on May 17, 2011, at the invitation of then-Irish President Mary McAleese. The trip was then returned to the UK by President Michael Higgins in 2014, marking yet another milestone for the improved relationship between our two countries.

The very last British monarch to set foot in Ireland was Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather King George V, who toured the country in 1911 when the whole island was still a part of the United Kingdom. In the following 100 years, the 1916 Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence, Irish Civil War, First World War, and Second World War had all dramatically changed not just Ireland and England themselves but the relationship between us - all in the space of two generations of the British monarchy.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip greeted by then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny for the historic state visit.

While there were those who protested against the visit of a British Queen to Ireland, her four days in the country were heralded as an all-around success as everyone from Dublin to Cork welcomed her.

The importance of the trip in presenting the success of Irish peace cannot be forgotten. Not only did Queen Elizabeth use a few words in Irish in her main speech but she also laid a wreath in honor of those who had died for the cause of Irish freedom in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance, essentially a mark of tribute to people who may have fought against her own country’s soldiers.  

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip having fun at Guinness Storehouse.

While she did not apologize for England's colonial past in Ireland, she did express her “sincere thoughts and deep sympathy” for the victims of the troubles and violence between the two states, and for some, that was enough.

"I believe that her expression of sincere sympathy for those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past is genuine," said Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams at the time, with few of his colleagues in Sinn Féin disagreeing with him.

"I think this visit will set the seal on what is already a very strong relationship between our two countries, but a relationship I believe that can get even stronger still,” said then-British Prime Minister David Cameron, a now unfortunate statement when we think of the drastic effects that the Brexit vote will have on that relationship, a vote that happened under his watch.

The Queen even tried her hand at a few words in Irish at a gala dinner in Dublin Castle.

While some may have said they’d expect the gushing statements of the Irish Times, the paper which used to be known as the voice of unionism in Ireland, the national newspaper was not alone among the Irish press in announcing that the English Queen had won herself a fan or two in the Irish public.

The Irish Independent wrote of her speech in Dublin Castle on May 18, 2011: "It was a moving speech delivered in her clear cut crystal voice and after the toast, the room stood and applauded. Not just polite applause but a sustained heartfelt appreciation of the bridge that the Queen herself had built … she had the look of a woman for whom the weight of history had just got a lot lighter."

Such was the positive reception Queen Elizabeth had, she even received a standing ovation as she met with the Irish celebrities:

As well as visiting a memorial to the 49,400 Irish soldiers who died fighting in the British Army during the First World War, the monarch, accompanied by her husband Prince Philip, visited Croke Park, the main Gaelic Games stadium in Ireland, which was also the scene of a notorious attack by British troops on Irish citizens known as Bloody Sunday. On that day in 1920, during the War of Independence, 14 Irish civilians were killed including a young Co. Tipperary footballer named Michael Hogan, after whom one of the stands is named.

The trip also included a visit to the Rock of Cashel, Coolmore Stud, the English Market in Cork City, the Irish National Stud in Co. Kildare, and a performance from The Chieftains and Riverdance.

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The Queen's visit to the Republic of Ireland concludes

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh visited the Republic of Ireland on 17-20 May. The first ever visit by a British Head of State.

At a banquet in Dublin Castle on Wednesday 18 May, the Queen offered her “sincere thoughts and deep sympathy” to the victims of Ireland and the UK’s troubled past.

She said with hindsight,”we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all”.

“So much of this visit reminds us of the complexity of our history, its many layers and traditions, but also the importance of forbearance and conciliation. Of being able to bow to the past, but not be bound by it.

Of course, the relationship has not always been straightforward; nor has the record over the centuries been entirely benign. It is a sad and regrettable reality that through history our islands have experienced more than their fair share of heartache, turbulence and loss.

These events have touched us all, many of us personally, and are a painful legacy. We can never forget those who have died or been injured, and their families. To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all. But it is also true that no-one who looked to the future over the past centuries could have imagined the strength of the bonds that are now in place between the governments and the people of our two nations, the spirit of partnership that we now enjoy, and the lasting rapport between us. No-one here this evening could doubt that heartfelt desire of our two nations.”

• Read the speech in full on British Monarchy website

Joining Her Majesty The Queen on the State Visit, Prime Minister David Cameron said the event “set the seal” on an already very strong relationship between the two countries.

He said the Queen’s State Visit to Ireland has shown enormous sensitivity to past issues and problems as well as the opportunities for the future.

• Read the PM’s remarks in full on Number10 website

Foreign Secretary William Hague accompanied The Queen on the visit, and met Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore in Dublin on 17 May.

“It is a historic event, that’s not misusing this word, it is the first ever State Visit to Ireland by a British monarch. The Queen has made over three hundred overseas visits but this one is particularly special; a visit to our nearest neighbour with which we have uniquely close links and which is also, as you have said, one of our most important trading partners as well.

And I know that Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh have been not only very much looking forward to their visit they have been delighted today by the warmth of the welcome from the President, from the Ministers and very much, indeed, from the people of Ireland.

This visit represents an important moment in British and Irish history. It marks the transformation of the relationship between Britain and Ireland in recent years, the strength of our economic, political and family ties and the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland as well. And it provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate all of these things and to place the emphasis on making the links even stronger for the future.”

• Foreign Secretary press conference in full The programme included a formal welcome by President McAleese at aras an Uachtarain, a ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance, a courtesy call on the Taoiseach at Government Buildings and a State dinner in Dublin Castle, at which both The Queen and the President delivered speeches.

The programme also included events at Trinity College Dublin, at the National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, at the Guinness Storehouse and at Croke Park.

• read the full programme

On 19 May the British Embassy hosted a celebration of the visit.

Two thousand guests joined The Queen as she welcomed the President to enjoy an evening of fashion, music and theatre at an iconic modern venue in the Dublin docklands.

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Queen Elizabeth’s Complicated Relationship with Ireland, Britain’s First Colony 

L ike many of Britain’s former colonies , Ireland has had a complicated relationship with both Britain and its monarchy, one uniquely shaped by a geographical proximity that created intimate but not necessarily friendly ties both economically and culturally.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II raised much discussion about the British monarchy’s relationship with its former colonies . In the Republic of Ireland , which gained its independence in 1921, the response was respectful and somewhat muted, consistent with complex history.

Ireland endured eight centuries of political and military intervention by its neighbor before finally gaining its independence. But Queen Elizabeth (and now King Charles III) remained head of state in the six counties that make up Northern Ireland , which is still part of the U.K.— and a point of friction for 70 years. During the violent period of the late 1960s to late 1990s known as The Troubles, more than 3,700 people lost their lives, including the uncle of the Queen’s husband: Lord Louis Mountbatten , an icon of British imperialism, was killed in 1979 by a Irish Republic Army bomb.

Yet upon the Queen’s death, Irish politicians both North and South and on either side of the political divide issued statements of condolence, tribute and praise, testament to the important role she played in repairing relations between Britain and Ireland.

The first colony

Not only was Ireland Britain’s nearest colony, it was also its first. Conquered by the Normans in 1169, the island remained (apart from a brief decade of independence in the 1640s) a colony for over 700 years. It provided something of a test site for methods of governing, policies and practices, including the promotion of English culture and language, that were later transferred to other parts of the British Empire.

It also proved an early example of resistance. Generations of Irish nationalists viewed the British monarchy and army alike as the enemy. The IRA described the assassination of Mountbatten as a “discriminate act to bring the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country.” While the Queen a number of times visited Northern Ireland – where many in the Protestant majority identify as British – when it came to the Republic of Ireland there “effectively wasn’t a relationship after Irish Independence until the mid-1990s,” says Marie Coleman, Professor of Twentieth Century Irish History at Queen’s University in Belfast.

The monarchy was “not popular with a majority of the Irish population,” says Dan Mulhall, former Irish Ambassador to the U.K. and current Irish studies professor at New York University. “There were obviously traumatic events during the 19th century and then in the 20th century.”

The Queen and the peace

In 1993, the Queen invited then-President of Ireland Mary Robinson to Buckingham Palace for tea. It was the first official meeting between the heads of state of Ireland and Britain and marked the start of a slow process of improving relations during the 1990s, after the IRA announced a ceasefire, and its political branch, Sinn Fein, embraced negotiations. In 1995 the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) visited Dublin.

As the peace process that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement unfolded, the relationship that Elizabeth II built with the next President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, helped pave the way for the first visit by a British monarch to the Republic of Ireland , in 2011. “There hadn’t been an official visit by the British monarchy in 400 years,” says Mulhall. The visit in 2011 would prove to be “a turning point in relations,” he adds.

“It was a recognition that both the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland treated each other as equal nations which had much in common with each other,” says Coleman.

There was a huge amount of symbolism during the visit, and the Queen clearly grasped its critical role in improving relations between the countries. The first stop was to lay a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin, which is dedicated to the memory of those who died “in the cause of Irish Freedom” – in other words, those who fought for Irish independence against Britain. “Yet she went there and she bowed her head,” says Mulhall, ”recognizing the contribution those people had made to the evolution of modern Ireland.”

Read More : Queen Elizabeth’s Passing Could Push Some Countries to Alter Their Ties to the British Monarchy

And though the Queen’s visit drew protests and critics in the Republic of Ireland, in Northern Ireland, and in the U.K, “she understood the power of images and symbolism and did a number of things which clearly won people over and turned the visit into a great success,” says Mulhall.

At a state banquet in Dublin Castle, Queen Elizabeth began her speech with a greeting in the Irish language—” a uachtaran agus a chairde ” [President and friends]. The speech acknowledged the history and difficulties between the two countries. “Of course, the relationship has not always been straightforward; nor has the record over the centuries been entirely benign,” she said. “It is a sad and regrettable reality that through history our islands have experienced more than their fair share of heartache, turbulence and loss.”

That visit, however, paved the way for better relations and a year later, on a visit to Northern Ireland, there was another even more remarkable mark of progress. At the Lyric Theater in Belfast, the Queen shook hands with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, the then Northern Ireland deputy first minister. The handshake lasted just four seconds but was hugely significant given that McGuinness was a former IRA commander and had held a senior role in the paramilitary organization at the time of the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.

“It was obviously significant for that reason,” says Coleman. Though she adds it also was significant “for Irish Republicanism that McGuinness was prepared to shake the hand of a British monarch whose right to rule over any part of Ireland is not accepted by the party of which he was a leading figure at the time.”

A service, not a wake

Upon news of the Queen’s Sept. 8 death , two Irish soldiers lowered the Irish flag to half mast at government buildings in Dublin as a mark of respect.

The Irish flag has been lowered to half mast at Government Buildings this evening to mark the death of HM Queen Elizabeth. Statement from Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD ➡️ https://t.co/luw9aLl0sl pic.twitter.com/kvs7Ki9zwv — MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) September 8, 2022

But mourning was not the order of the day. Twitter in Ireland was alive with discussion on the role the monarchy had played in Ireland, and its colonial legacy. Many raised the issue of the long painful history of colonization and a video of Irish soccer fans singing “Lizzie is in a box” went viral, the club later issuing a statement condemning the chant.

Her death brought respectful condolences from political figures, including members of Sinn Fein, who commended the role she played in bettering relations between the two countries. “Queen Elizabeth’s Visit was pivotal in laying a firm basis for an authentic and ethical understanding between our countries,” said Irish President Michael D Higgins . “Her moving words and gestures of respect were deeply appreciated and admired by the people of Ireland and set out a new, forward looking relationship between our nations – one of respect, close partnership and sincere friendship.”

Taoiseach [Prime Minister] Micheal Martin said: “The Queen’s passing is indeed the end of an era. Her State Visit to Ireland in 2011 marked a crucial step in the normalization of relations with our nearest neighbor.”

The First Minister of Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein politician Michelle O’Neill acknowledged the Queen’s “significant contribution.” “Throughout the peace process she led by example in building relationships with those of us who are Irish, and who share a different political allegiance and aspirations to herself and her Government,” she said.

It’s with deep regret that I learned of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.   The British people will miss the leadership she gave as monarch.   I would like to offer my sincere sympathies and condolences to her children, and wider family as they come to terms with their grief 1/4 — Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) September 8, 2022

Since Brexit, the overall relationship between Ireland and the U.K. have been put under strain, with a number of disputes including a political row over trade arrangements. “The monarchy might be one conduit to try to repair this,” says Mulhall.

Read More : Queen Elizabeth II Has Died. Here’s How Prince Charles Became King

Indeed, in his first speech during a visit to Northern Ireland, the future King Charles promised to “seek the welfare of all inhabitants” of Northern Ireland and vowed to follow “the shining example” of his mother given her role in improving relations and reconciliation.

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Queen Elizabeth and Ireland: From hard feelings to a warm handshake

The queen took risks to promote peace in northern ireland, including a meeting with martin mcguinness that confronted hard truths.

Queen Elizabeth II shaking hands with Martin McGuinness during her visit to Northern Ireland in June 2012. Photograph: Paul Faith/WPA Pool/Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II visited Northern Ireland many times during her long reign, providing assurance primarily for the unionist population that the link with Britain was secure, but later working to assist and lock in the peace.

And that can’t have been easy. Both she and the late Martin McGuinness had to step outside their own constituencies when they had their first groundbreaking encounters. Yet there was a personal element to that engagement that was problematic for the British monarch.

In Mullaghmore in Co Sligo in 1979 the IRA murdered Lord Louis Mountbatten, her cousin and her husband Philip’s uncle, as well as taking the lives of two teenage boys and an elderly woman. As an IRA leader, McGuinness may have had a role in organising those killings.

That meeting was in the Lyric Theatre on Ridgeway Street in south Belfast in 2012, the year of her diamond jubilee, and reporters gathered outside the theatre wondered would the drama inside be a damp affair of limp handshakes and formalities grimly observed.

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That wasn’t the case, however. The chief executive of Co-operation Ireland, Peter Sheridan, who organised and was central to the event, described the occasion as “very natural and relaxed”.

It was a “significant milestone on the road to reconciliation on this island and between our two islands,” said Sheridan, who said that the queen was deeply conscious of how important it was to rise to such challenges.

It later transpired that the issue of Lord Mountbatten was raised, if rather carefully. McGuinness told RTÉ's Miriam O’Callaghan: “I also head-on addressed this issue with the queen and Prince Philip when I said to them that I recognised that they too had lost a loved one. I did not shy away from the issue because I think these are things that have to be faced up to.”

For protocol reasons he would not disclose her specific response, but said: “She was absolutely understanding of the need for everybody to work together to ensure we don’t go back to the past so that we can continue to move forward — she was very gracious about it.”

And that was the tenor of those key visits and meetings: that Queen Elizabeth understood she had a pivotal role to play in quietly seeking change and healing, and was prepared to take some risks to advance that objective.

That engagement led to further acts of reconciliation, including more meetings with McGuinness that weren’t as formal. Observers knocked great value out of how two years later McGuinness and Peter Robinson accompanied Queen Elizabeth to the former Crumlin Road Gaol in north Belfast, now a museum, where hundreds of republican and loyalist prisoners, and some politicians, were detained during the Troubles.

Those “guests of her majesty” in the Crum, as it was known when a working prison, included her two guides — McGuinness, who spent five to six weeks there in 1976 on remand facing an IRA membership charge; and Robinson, who was inside for three short periods over protests against the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement.

Dented bonnet

It is interesting to note the pattern of Queen Elizabeth’s visits to Northern Ireland. She first came to the North as a young 19-year-old princess shortly after the end of the second World War in July 1945, visiting Stormont for the investiture of posthumous awards to relatives of the fallen in that conflict.

Twice more she visited as a princess in 1946 and 1949, before making her first trip to the North as queen in July 1953.

She made two more visits — in 1961 and 1966 — before the Troubles broke out at the end of that decade. On the 1966 visit a concrete block thrown at the royal limousine as it travelled along Great Victoria Street in Belfast dented the bonnet. It didn’t discommode the queen who continued on to open a bridge across the Lagan named in her honour, but it was a portent of what was to come.

During the conflict she came to Northern Ireland five times — in 1977, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997.

But during the interminable peace and political processes she was a frequent visitor. Every year in 2000-2010, apart from 2004, Queen Elizabeth travelled to Northern Ireland. It was during some of those Northern events that the queen met and built up a relationship with president Mary McAleese that facilitated her visit to the Republic in 2011.

Speaking hat

An oddly memorable visit was in May 2002 when the queen travelled to Stormont where the then first powersharing Northern Executive was finding its feet.

It was decided that she would not speak in the chamber in case Sinn Féin walked out. Instead she gave a televised speech in the marbled hall of Parliament Buildings. But due to a dispute over the positioning of cameras, all that viewers could see of the queen as she spoke was her hat. It was lampooned as the visit of “the speaking hat”.

Her contribution to the peace process was acknowledged by the leaders of Ireland’s main Christian churches in September 2021, when she was forced to cancel plans to attend a cross-community church service in Armagh on medical advice — an event it was understood she had been looking forward to.

The event had already sparked significant controversy over President Michael D Higgins’s decision not to attend the service marking the centenary of partition and the formation of Northern Ireland.

“We wish to convey to Her Majesty our good wishes and, in doing so, to acknowledge the significance of her commitment to the work of peace and reconciliation, which has meant a great deal to people throughout this island,” the church leaders said.

Over those several decades and many visits to Northern Ireland she met people from every walk of life, including in 2009 the Ireland rugby team which earlier that year won the Grand Slam. There was some controversy when outhalf Ronan O’Gara chatted to her with his hands dug in his pockets.

She, as usual, appeared unperturbed and perhaps that discourtesy was ameliorated by O’Gara telling her he had met her grandson, Prince William, on two Lions tours and found him “a lovely young man”.

Sheridan was in no doubt that she was personally and sincerely committed to promoting “forbearance and conciliation” in the North, a phrase she used in her speech in Dublin Castle in 2011.

He believed another quote from that speech summed up how she understood at a deep and historic level the importance of promoting and cementing the hard-earned peace. “She was light years ahead of the politicians in terms of her views on reconciliation and the peace process and that is encapsulated in what she said at Dublin Castle, of the necessity ‘to bow to the past, but not be bound by it’.”

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