Platinum Jubilee: Northern Ireland’s peace-making monarch
In 2012, the Queen made a historic gesture – she walked from the Protestant cathedral to the Roman Catholic one in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. The small gesture made an enormous contribution to community relations in Northern Ireland and it would set a standard for others.
Viscount Brookeborough, Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh, said: “This, when she crossed the street, was a turning point for the people of the town and the county.”
“It seriously made it acceptable for both communities to go into each other’s churches,” he added.
Enniskillen was the scene of one of the worst IRA atrocities, the Poppy Day bombing.
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The following day, the Queen would reach out her hand to Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander turned deputy first minister.
And this year, she made her historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland – the first by a British monarch, starting a new chapter in British-Irish relations.
Lord Brookeborough said: “She went on that visit, she enjoyed it and people who thought they might not have appreciated it in the Republic did.
“One day on an aeroplane, somebody was sitting next to me and we were talking about the state visit and he said: ‘Previously she was their Queen. She’s now our Queen’.”
Few could have imagined a day when Northern Ireland would have an Irish nationalist first minister-designate who was happy to send jubilee greetings to the Queen.
Michelle O’Neill told Sky News: “I know there are many people that will hold Queen Elizabeth with high regard.
“Many people will look towards her as their monarch and I think it’s really, really important than that I reflect that and acknowledge that her jubilee celebration is an important time for many, many people, not least for herself.
“I do also have to understand that whenever you have public office for 70 years, that’s a big, big achievement.”
Lord Brookeborough said he admires the Queen’s ability to build bridges.
He said: “When she meets somebody, she talks to them on a totally even level and she gets them to engage with her.
“To be honest, one of the reasons is that she’s not a terribly tall person so she doesn’t speak down to people.”
“She always has that twinkle in her eye and a little smile,” he added.
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