Queen pays tribute to Ireland’s war dead
The Queen lays a poppy wreath at a memorial in Dublin in tribute to Ireland’s war dead. She will also visit Croke Park – where British forces shot dead 14 people in 1920.
Politicians from all sides, senior churchmen and judges sat with army veterans for the commemoration on day two of the historic state visit.
The Queen placed a wreath, bowed and observed a minute’s silence broken by a piper playing a Scottish air.
Among the guests were former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson, Northern Ireland First Minster Peter Robinson, Catholic Archbishop of Ireland Sean Brady and the head of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Alan Harper. Others invited included UDA commander Jackie McDonald.
The ceremony builds on the symbolic reconciliation in 1998 when the Queen and the President unveiled a tower on the site of the battle of Messines Ridge in memory of the Irish dead of the First World War, and to inaugurate the Island of Ireland Peace Park.
It was the first public event undertaken by an Irish and British head of state.
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Islandbridge Gardens contain a war stone inscribed “Their Name Liveth For Evermore” and the 30ft Guillemont Ginchy Cross, the wall behind which carries the words “To the memory of 49,400 Irish men who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-18”.
Again, the Union flag flew along side the Irish Tricolour and, to mark the role played by tens of thousands of Irishmen in the wars, three divisional flags of the British Legion. The United Nations flag was also flown above the gardens.
The ceremony opened with a rendition of God Save The Queen and the Tricolour at half-mast. After the sounding of the Last Post, the flag was returned to full height and Ireland’s national anthem, Amhran na bhFiann, was played.
Following the wreath-laying, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were shown illuminated manuscripts created by stained glass artist Harry Clarke, in the granite room of the memorial containing the names of all the soldiers commemorated.
The Queen will also visit Croke Park where British forces killed 14 people in 1920.
The visit represents another milestone in public acknowledgements by the monarch of past wrongs committed by Britain during its rule of Ireland.
On Tuesday when the Queen arrived in the Irish capital for the start of her historic tour, she laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance, which honours all those who died for Irish freedom in the early part of the 20th century.