Queen visits Ireland today

Queen opening hospital wing in Londonderry 2009

Her Majesty The Queen is making a state visit to the Republic of Ireland today. This is not her first visit to Ireland, but it is her first visit to the Republic of Ireland, or Eire as my prep school Geography master from Lisburn called it. The BBC is keen to be telling us that this is "the first time a British Monarch has set foot on Irish soil since independence from British rule", which is a bit of a twist on history.

Ireland was, as a whole island, fully part of the United Kingdom from 1st January 1801 until 6th December 1922, when the south of Ireland assumed independence within the Commonwealth. It was called the Irish Free State and the King of Ireland became the King in Ireland. The Free State ended in 1937 and the Republic was formed, with no king in or out!

The BBC seems to forget that the Free State was what many Irishmen wanted. They do not mention it. They have mentioned the Irish who fought in the Great War and were inconveniently forgotten, which was a disgrace. However, the majority of the Irish people supported and voted for complete severance, and that is what seems predominant. We may be getting a similar run of political manoeuvring in Scotland, although Alex Salmond is a very much a creature of 2011 and not a back of the hay trailer tubthumper of 1911.

I hope the Queen's visit goes well. It seems most Irish people are at ease with the relationship between the Republic and the UK. We need to put enmity aside, if enmity there is and enjoy our common heritage and blood ties, for there are many of those.

Queen in Northern Ireland 2009

Queen beheaded in mock Dublin execution

Mock execution in Dublin 

Some Irish people are tearing their hearts and minds out with hatred and vitriole. Currently the Republic of Ireland is a basket case financially. There are a few that would wish it to become a basket case morally, spiritually and democratically as well. A group calling themselves Éirígí staged a mock execution in Dublin yesterday. Sacrilege on a Sunday! And very distasteful given recent events. Of course, such things have always been attractive to republican Irishmen. They desecrated Easter Sunday once.

Complete with a portable guillotine they cut off the head of a plastic replica (not a great likeness) of the Queen. Supposedly this was to make a point about the Queen's visit to Dublin. I've looked at the website of these revolutionary socialists. They babble on about freedom, yet if they ever got to control the Dail (by foul means rather fair, no doubt) most decent Irish people would either have fled from their clutches or decided a counter revolution was the best bet.

These people are dreamers with acid in their veins. They think the ills of their world are all down to Elizabeth Windsor, as the impudently call the Queen. I suppose she had a guiding hand in the Irish banks going for broke.

Most people in Ireland welcome this visit. In fact, if Queen Victoria hadn't been such a recluse she might have wowed Dubliners a bit better. Her first visit was in 1849, described as a public relations success by many accounts. By the time she did eventually return, some 51 years later in 1900, she had left it a little too late. Just as in the American Colonies, it was never a foregone conclusion that independence from the British Crown was desired. It was more down to meddling, arrogant politicians not giving an inch to reasonable demands, although Queen Victoria didn't help much. If you don't see someone for 51 years what are you expected to think?

I hope the Queen is given a warm welcome. Obviously she has been asked by the Irish government to come. It would be churlish if the reception was cool and distant, outrageous if it was abused by raving revolutionary socialists.