QUEEN ELIZABETH II first visited the Republic of Ireland in 2011 but newly released documents reveal that a visit to Ireland was being discussed way back in 1995.
A trip by her son Prince Charles to Ireland in 1995 was deemed to be a success by the British monarch and soon after the trip her mother, the late Queen Mother, was said to be “dying to go.”
She herself would not be going “just yet”, however.
Secret government documents are released annually under the 30-year rule and sent to the National Archives, providing journalists and historians with a fresh glimpse into historical events.
This year, even more recent files up to 1998 are also being released to bring the National Archives up to date with material released by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
As part of these files, a memo sent by the Irish ambassador to Britain, Joseph Small, to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin in June 1995 revealed that an Irish businessman, Ned Ryan, raised the prospect of the queen’s trip with the monarch herself not long after Princes Charles’ visit.
Charles visited Ireland less than a year after the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994. The PIRA had killed Prince Charles’ great-uncle, Louis Mountbatten, in a bomb explosion at Mullaghmore, Co Sligo in 1979.
The visit by the first-in-line to the throne was deemed a success at the time despite some protests and it raised the prospects of a visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
Ryan, who was said to be a close friend of the queen’s sister, Princess Margaret and a regular visitor to Buckingham Palace, said to the queen that he presumed she would be the next to visit Ireland.
In response, the monarch stated that despite being pleased by Prince Charles’ visit, she would not be making a similar trip “just yet” but that the Queen Mother was “dying to go”.
The Queen Mother was a noted horse racing fan and horse owner and other historic research has shown that he attempted to organise a trip to Ireland to see the Dublin Horse Show.
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