Rónán Duffy Reports from London

PRESIDENT CATHERINE CONNOLLY is expected to meet Britain’s King Charles as part of a three-day UK visit that includes time in London and Leeds. 

The trip is Connolly’s second overseas jaunt since her inauguration after last month’s visit to Barcelona, but this latest visit could be characterised as more traditional in nature. 

The Barcelona trip saw the president speaking at a gathering of left-leaning world leaders that was explicitly framed around responding to threats to democracy, including from the far-right.

The three-day visit to the UK is far more reminiscent of other presidential trips that will see Connolly directly engage with members of the Irish Diaspora and take part in a number of cultural events. 

Connolly is based in London today and on Tuesday before she travels north to visit Leeds University on Wednesday, where she achieved an M.Sc. in Clinical Psychology in 1981. 

The President’s schedule in London includes a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show and the expected engagement with King Charles, which has not been officially listed as is customary with the monarch’s schedule. 

A meeting with the king comes amid increased speculation that Charles will visit Ireland possibly as soon as next year. 

Unlike the 2014 visit by Connolly’s predecessor Michael D Higgins, this trip to the UK is not a full State Visit so it will not include the pageantry that was attached to that occasion such as the banquet in Windsor Castle.

Connolly’s first engagement today will be at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, where she will make an address and will also meet people participating in an Irish language class. 

This evening, the president and her husband Brian McEnery will attend a reception in their honour being hosted by the Irish Ambassador to Britain, Martin Fraser and Deirdre Fraser.

Martin Fraser is a former secretary general at the Department of An Taoiseach and will soon depart the London posting to become Ireland’s ambassador to the United Nations, based in New York. 

Before the visit to Barcelona, Connolly’s first trip outside the jurisdiction following her inauguration was a visit to Northern Ireland.