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In carefully balanced trip Queen will pay respects to Irish soldiers who fought the British crown and others who wore its uniform Bill Clinton displayed a deft touch in 1995 when he became the first US president to visit Northern Ireland since the start of the Troubles. Political leaders from all sides swooned as a carefully orchestrated White House operation ensured that Clinton met each one of them in a way that made them all feel special. Buckingham Palace has clearly paid attention to Clinton’s ground breaking visit to Northern Ireland in the early years of the peace process as the Queen prepares to make history by becoming the first British monarch to visit the Irish Republic. The Queen will visit a series of sights which symbolise the complexity of Anglo-Irish relations and explain why no British monarch has stepped onto the soil of any of the 26 counties since George V visited Dublin in 1911. In those days it was part of the UK. The complexity of relations between the two islands will be shown soon after the Queen arrives in Dublin when she is formally received by Mary McAleese, the Irish president, at her formal residence, Áras an Uachtaráin. McAleese was technically born as a subject of the Queen’s father, George VI, in Belfast in 1951. This is how the trip, which will take place between 17-20 May, has been balanced: Nationalist Ireland • A tour of Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance. The Queen’s grandfather George V would probably utter an expletive to beat his famous ‘Bugger Bognor’ outburst if he knew that Lillibet, who was ten when he died in 1936, is to visit the garden that commemorates the Irish Republicans who tried to overthrow his rule over Ireland in the sixth year of his reign in the 1916 Easter Rising. • A visit to Croke Park, home of Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) sports which are one of the main symbols of nationalist Ireland. The modern world was introduced to the significance of Croke Park in the Liam Neeson Michael Collins film which depicted the 1920 Bloody Sunday shootings. British troops fired on a gaelic football match, killing 14 people. It was only in 2005 that the GAA relaxed its famous Rule 42, which banned the playing of ‘garrison games’ (rugby and soccer) on its grounds. Anglo-Ireland • A tour of the Islandbridge National War Memorial Gardens in Dublin. The gardens commemorate the thousands of Irish soldiers who died in British or allied uniforms during the first and second world wars. Eamon de Valera, who famously passed on his condolences to the German legation in Dublin when Adolf Hitler died, was supportive of the site. But it was not until 1995 that a Taoiseach (John Bruton) formally visited the gardens. • Visits to Trinity College Dublin, which educated generations of Anglo-Irish professionals, and to the home Guinness which was traditionally associated with the Protestant community. Everyone’s Ireland, good and bad • The Rock of Cashel. This takes everyone’s breath away as it comes into view on the main road from Dublin to Cork. Once the seat of the Kings of Munster, this is the pride of all traditions in Ireland. But it did play host to Anglo-Irish battles when it was sacked by English Parliamentarian troops in 1647 during the Irish Confederate Wars A visit by the Queen to the Irish Republic has always been seen (excuse the pun) as the crowning moment in the peace process that sets the seal on the full normalisation in relations between the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic. Julian King, the British ambassador to Ireland, hailed the visit as an historic moment: The State Visit programme announced by Buckingham Palace and Áras an Uachtaráin is a wide-ranging and exciting celebration of the close ties between our two countries. Her Majesty and The Duke of Edinburgh will be able to experience at first hand the vibrant links that make our relationship with Ireland so important. This is a historic visit that also celebrates our close modern partnership. But will a tradition of state visits by the Queen be maintained? British ambassadors in post during a state visit by the Queen are usually knighted. But would it be right to bump up Julian King, who is already a CMG (Call Me God), to the full status of KCMG (Kindly Call Me God) after a trip to the 26 counties whose independent republican citizens have taken a dim view of British gongs? The Queen Ireland Northern Ireland Bill Clinton Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk