Irish president hails relations with Britain
Print Edition
IRELAND’S president was welcomed with regal pomp to Queen Elizabeth II’s Windsor Castle yesterday, opening a state visit heavy with symbolism for two countries with a troubled history.
Michael D Higgins’ visit is the first by an Irish head of state since Ireland threw off British rule a century ago, and a sign of how Northern Ireland’s peace process has transformed relations between one-time enemies.
Higgins — a veteran left-wing politician, poet and human rights activist — said it was impossible to “wipe the slate clean” about the past, but relations between the two countries were good.
A military band played the Irish national anthem as Higgins and his wife Sabina were welcomed by the queen and husband Prince Philip. The streets of the town, west of London, were bedecked in both nations’ flags.
Higgins three-day trip included a banquet last night at the castle, hosted by the queen.
Among the expected guests was Martin McGuinness, once a senior Irish Republican Army commander, now Northern Ireland’s deputy leader. His presence would have been unthinkable, by both sides, a few years ago.
Following an IRA ceasefire and the Good Friday peace accord in 1998, the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party serves in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing administration.
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