Whilst Prince William and Kate, the newly titled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on their royal honeymoon in the Seychelles the Queen made an historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland.
William and Kate were no doubt relaxing and enjoying themselves on the beautiful golden beaches of the North Island in complete privacy and away from the world's media attention as it all turned to the Queen for her four day visit to Ireland from the 17th to 20th May 2011.
King George V, The Queen's Grandfather had been the last reigning monarch to visit the country in 1911 when what is now the Republic of Ireland was still part of the UK.
Irish President Mary McAleese told state broadcaster RTE "an extraordinary moment in Irish history - a phenomenal sign and signal of the success of the peace process and absolutely the right moment for us to welcome onto Irish soil Her Majesty the Queen". Despite this and the majority of the country being in support of the Queen's visit there was genuine concern for her safety because of a tiny minority of Irish dissident repluplicans. The result was one of the biggest security operations ever mounted in the Republic costing an estimated 30 million euros.
The visit was huge success and went remarkably well and the Queen was very well received by the country and its people with only a small amount of Sinn Fein protestors visible on the streets. The visit and the Queen's graciousness whilst there went a long way to securing the peace process even further and reminding both countries of how much in common we actually have. The video above by the Telegraph is a nice compilation of the highlights of The Queen's visit to Ireland.
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