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PRESIDENT CATHERINE CONNOLLY has said Britain’s King Charles has “graciously accepted” an invitation to make a State visit to Ireland next year.

Connolly extended the invitation during a meeting with the British monarch at Buckingham Palace this afternoon as part of her three-day visit to England.

The pair were photographed smiling and exchanging a handshake during the official engagement.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Connolly said she and Charles had discussed a range of issues, including climate change and the environment.

“Actually, I had a lot in common with the King in relation to the environment and climate change,” Connolly said.

“I think the highlight really was the invitation that I extended him as the 10th president of Ireland to make a State visit to Ireland, and he graciously accepted that.

“So, the details will emerge in due course between the two governments.”

In a statement earlier, Connolly said she was “very pleased” to extend the invitation to Charles.

“I am sure that he will receive the warmest of welcomes and this will represent a further deepening of our relationship as neighbours and as friends,” Connolly said.

President Catherine Connolly has said Britain’s King Charles has “graciously accepted” an invitation to make a State visit to Ireland next year.https://t.co/GCRIFkNw9X pic.twitter.com/AEZmvocIMM

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) May 18, 2026

The visit to Britain is Connolly’s first official trip to England since her inauguration in November.

While the Buckingham Palace meeting was an official engagement, the trip is not a full State visit and therefore does not include the ceremonial events that accompanied former president Michael D. Higgins’s 2014 visit, which featured a banquet at Windsor Castle.

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Charles’ upcoming visit will be the second State Visit by a British monarch to Ireland since independence.

The last visit by a reigning British monarch to the Republic of Ireland was Queen Elizabeth II’s historic four-day State visit in 2011.

Earlier in the trip, Connolly visited the Irish Cultural Centre in west London, where she met participants in an Irish language class and said there was “hardly a sector” of British life that had not been influenced by the Irish diaspora.

Additional reporting by Andrew Walsh