BBC Newsline Special - The Queen in Northern Ireland

HORN TOOTS

The Merlin No.85 locomotive steams along the north coast,

taking its passengers on the stunning route

from Portrush to Bellarena.

One of those on board made this same journey a long time ago...

..the Queen -

in 1953, just weeks after her coronation.

Now in the seventh decade of her reign, she had chosen to

retrace that same train journey to mark her 90th birthday.

In all, she's made 25 visits to Northern Ireland.

She's made these visits by plane, by sea and, of course, by train.

At times, she's been greeted by cheering crowds and near adulation.

At others, she's been met by protests.

She's ruled over a changed Northern Ireland

and met that change face-to-face.

A Uachtarain...

She's even been seen as a catalyst for change.

..agus a chairde.

And much has changed.

Through those decades of both tumult and tranquillity,

she has done what she does the world over.

She turns up, smiles, shakes hands, lots of hands,

she opens buildings, roads and bridges,

she meets people and goes into the heart of communities.

As she says herself, "I have to be seen to be believed."

In this programme we'll look back at her visits here,

in good times and in bad,

and tell the story of her relationship with Northern Ireland.

How did people feel about her over the years?

Have attitudes to the Queen evolved over time?

And what will her legacy be?

This visit to the north coast was a trip back in time

and, in a way, it was timeless.

Back in 1953, the young Queen was greeted along the way by

cheering crowds throughout her visit and in 2016, it was no different.

The crowds still turned out.

I just think it's great.

I did not even imagine I would be here

sitting just so close to her coming in.

I think she's marvellous at what she does.

I followed her from she was a child, the same age,

and her dress and one thing and another.

And she was always a gentle sort of a person. She always was.

It's been very exciting to see the Queen.

We were waiting on her passing

and we saw her then passing by the window, so it was very exciting.

I think it's quite surreal! I suppose not many people get

the opportunity to, so, good time to appreciate it.

She had never been to the Giant's Causeway.

At last, there was a chance to contemplate the stones,

even if she wasn't quite alone with her thoughts.

Another moment for contemplation,

100 years to the week after the start of the Battle of the Somme,

was her stop at the County Antrim village of Bushmills.

There, she unveiled the statue of Robert Quigg, a man she once met.

He won the Victoria Cross for bravery during

the Battle of the Somme.

Sergeant Quigg was given the highest military award for valour

after going out into the line of fire to

search for his commanding officer.

And, of course, there were affairs of state.

-It's very nice to see you.

-Thank you.

-Good evening.

-Hello.

-Are you well?

-Thank you very much.

-I'm still alive, anyway.

-Nice to see you again.

-We've been quite busy.

-Yes.

-There's been quite a lot going on.

-There's a lot of things happening at the moment.

-Yes.

-Absolutely.

I've had two birthdays.

For all these seeming lightness of the exchanges,

we can be sure that in private, there was much to discuss

because the meetings took place at a moment

when the United Kingdom stands on the cusp of profound change -

a different kingdom from the one she made in her early years.

-NEWSREEL:

-This was Princess Elizabeth's first journey by plane.

It was as the teenage Princess Elizabeth that she came to

Northern Ireland shortly after the end of World War II.

Her first visit as Queen came just four weeks

after her coronation in 1953.

On June 2nd of that year,

what was described as a new Elizabethan age began.

CHORAL SINGING

For the first time, television cameras were allowed to film

the ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

For those lucky enough to have a TV or to get close to one,

it gave them the chance to see the Queen up-close

and personal in their own living rooms.

It was the most beautiful service I ever heard.

She was so beautiful when she came up and it was so real

and the way she made her promise to the people,

and she's still

doing the same thing today.

The war was over, and long live the Queen.

Really, really made you feel better.

It always had been a king and here we were having a young woman

take that and that was a big, big step forward, I think,

for a lot of young women

who seen this as a possibility for their future.

But if much was made of the modernity of the new era, there was

also something intensely traditional at play in July 1953 as the crowds

turned out to see the new Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

I was a member of my church's Girls' Brigade

so we all turned out to see the Queen in 1953.

I just thought it was absolutely wonderful that the

Queen of England came to visit us.

And I have to say,

I worked in a mill which was predominantly Catholic, and the

owners, of course, were Protestant and the owners let everybody out.

I seen a lovely-looking woman waving at people and this really

good-looking guy beside her, who was the Duke of Edinburgh, of course.

And, of course, it was all over in a flash.

But we were so proud that we had walked up the Donegall Road

to see the Queen.

DRUMS BEAT

The thunder of the lambeg drums

marked the young Queen's first night.

The Northern Ireland she woke up to was a place with a staunchly

Unionist government which believed that after the hardship

of the war years, Northern Ireland had never had it so good.

She was meeting, you know, members of the majority community,

whether they be schoolchildren with Union Jacks

as she arrived in Belfast at the garden parties at Hillsborough,

and also, of course, her whole milieu

was very Conservative and Unionist.

So, while there was kind of Unionist euphoria,

while the speaker of the Northern Ireland Parliament,

Sir Norman Stronge, welcomed her

as making one of her first coronation visits to this

part of the Empire, at the same time,

you had Nationalist indifference, protests, for example, the

Nationalist MPs, you know, perhaps 15-20 strong

in terms of senators and MPS,

actually produced a petition repudiating

the right of Queen Elizabeth to rule any part of Ireland.

What seems remarkable now is that her itinerary was

published in the local press days in advance, allowing those who

wished to gather to get a good view.

The Governor of Northern Ireland even declared a public

holiday for the occasion - always a morale booster.

-NEWSREEL:

-The Queen in a steel blue silk coat, very full skirted

and a small hat, quite close, and her hair curling over the brim,

pearls and a diamond brooch and bracelet,

looking so lovely,

and the sun kept shining on this

first official function of Her Majesty's state visit.

And it seemed as though Belfast was eager to do its very best for her.

And friendliness, informal and unpretentious,

was at the very heart of it all.

CHEERING

From Queen's University she came here,

where under the watchful eye of Victoria,

her great, great grandmother,

she greeted the crowds at Belfast City Hall.

At the Balmoral Showgrounds, she met people injured during the war

and ex-servicemen.

Some travelled from Dublin in special trains.

They made it in spite of disruption caused by a bomb explosion

at Kilnasaggart Bridge in Jonesborough.

Young people were bussed in for a specially-organised youth rally.

Among the great and good at Stormont, Northern Ireland's

then-Prime Minister, Lord Brookeborough.

I had the privilege, Your Majesty, when speaking

for Northern Ireland, at the homage after your Majesty's coronation

of using the words "loving greeting"

because I felt that that

expressed the real feeling of the people of Northern Ireland.

I hope Your Majesty will enjoy your visit and you will return to us

but when you do come,

I firmly believe that you will find in the hearts of Northern Ireland,

a loyalty unsurpassed in any other part of the world.

We are Queen's men.

The Queen responded in kind.

As your Queen, I am now even more closely concerned with

the affairs of Northern Ireland.

And I assure you that I shall always try to repay your loyalty

and devotion with my steadfast service to you all.

May God give you wisdom and faith in all your labours

and may the future bring peace, contentment

and true happiness to the people of Northern Ireland.

But the pomp and pageantry at Stormont did not tell

the full story of life in Northern Ireland.

The state had been created three decades earlier

during the reign of her grandfather, George V,

the man she called "Grandpa England".

Ireland had been partitioned for 30 years,

had gone through civil wars, North and South, in the 1920s.

And there had been a perpetual stand-off between

Unionist majority and Nationalist minority in Northern Ireland.

In fact, over those decades, you know,

the Orange mould of the Northern Ireland state had hardened.

It was, as Craigavon had said in 1934,

a Protestant Parliament for a Protestant state.

But in Northern Ireland terms, the Nationalist population,

perhaps tending towards 40%, were really a state within a state.

They had opted out of the state,

except for paying their taxes, if you like.

They had their own social, cultural, educational infrastructure,

Gaelic games, the Irish language, Catholic schools,

even their own hospital.

And Prime Ministers from Craigavon to Brookeborough

ignored the minority, except when they had to make

concessions on things like education.

But generally, they ignored them.

So, the young Queen in 1953

was visiting, effectively, a Protestant state.

Next was a journey to the north coast.

Security concerns meant the 90 miles of track to Coleraine

had to be patrolled all night,

while in Londonderry, one third of the entire RUC was on duty,

awaiting her arrival.

As the Royal train made its way further north,

people strained to catch a glimpse,

as the train stopped at Ballymena and Ballymoney.

The Royal couple sailed by frigate up Lough Foyle.

Derry had been central to the UK's war effort

and its inclusion was an important part of the tour.

As they stepped off into the city's Guildhall Square,

the crowds were five deep, wearing their Sunday best.

Up the road at Brooke Park, people were waiting.

The factory girls, you see, we must have made

80 million shirts for the forces during the war in this city.

Some of the girls in different factories got invitations,

when she did come to Brooke Park.

And I was one of the lucky ones,

because I was standing right beside her.

Mind you, I didn't speak to her, I was too shy.

But she was really beautiful. She is and was beautiful.

I never saw such eyes in my life.

We were told we were going to meet someone very special who was

visiting the city, and we were told we had to have our uniforms spotless

and white socks and so forth.

But really, it didn't really ring a bell.

You know, it's the Queen, the Queen of England we were going to see.

It was a real thrill and I'll never forget her.

She was just beautiful, sitting and the Duke was with her,

and I could nearly swear she was wearing bright yellow.

She was just lovely.

After a final farewell from the Governor of Northern Ireland,

the Royal couple took their leave from Eglinton airport.

Following the fever of the coronation tour,

other short visits would take place.

Just a year later, Her Majesty was back,

launching a passenger liner at Harland and Wolff.

I name this ship Southern Cross.

May God protect her and all who sail in her.

CROWD CHEERS

Throughout the '60s, times were changing in Northern Ireland.

Nationalist demands for civil rights were growing stronger.

There were tensions on the streets.

Her visit in July 1966 made headlines for the wrong reasons

when her motorcade was attacked in Belfast.

A concrete block was dropped from scaffolding

on the bonnet of her car.

As the Duke of Edinburgh scanned the buildings,

the Queen is said to have brushed off the incident.

Apparently, she actually echoed the words, "It's a very strong car,"

but she must have known this wouldn't have happened

in Glasgow, or in Reading,

but it happened in Belfast in 1966.

The Royal show kept on the road

and the Queen did what she came to do,

opening a bridge named in her honour,

with the men who built it getting the best view

in a specially constructed stand in the Lagan.

But the attack on the Queen's car left a sour taste for many.

On the Protestant side, we were aghast that someone

would actually try to kill the Queen that way.

On the Catholic side, probably the attitude - not all Catholics -

but there was an attitude she shouldn't be here anyway,

she's not our Queen, so it was accepted by them that way.

We accepted it as a real mark against the Protestant religion

and against our Queen.

Civil and political difficulties intensified.

It wasn't long before Northern Ireland was engulfed by violence.

The backdrop to any Royal visit had changed.

The worsening security situation

restricted the Queen's visits over the next years.

Northern Ireland was probably

a no-go area for a lot of people,

because of the security implications.

It's not the case of the Queen didn't want to go.

The Queen probably would have wanted to go.

But she goes anywhere on the advice of her ministers,

and if her Northern Ireland minister,

the Secretary of State, says it is not safe to go

because there are security implications, and she will listen to

the security chiefs as well, because they have a tremendous input,

then, unfortunately, it has to be put on the back burner

until such time it is safe to go.

Then, at the height of the Troubles,

she returned to mark her Silver Jubilee.

For Unionists in Northern Ireland, that was important.

Quite clearly that's always been in her mind, that it is important

to remember that there are several bits of the United Kingdom.

This was a period of enormous upheaval,

of huge loss of life,

of a society which wasn't really

functioning at any level.

And I think ordinary people would have been largely

disinterested in a Royal visit in that period, and to a certain

extent some would have been hostile, would have felt it summed up

everything that was wrong with society in this part of the world.

A 21-gun salute marked her arrival in Belfast Lough

on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

But the Royal couple notably did not come ashore in Belfast.

In great contrast to her visit of 1953, security was at its tightest

and access to the Queen was very limited.

At Hillsborough, small crowds did their best

to get the celebrations going.

CHEERING

The Duke of Edinburgh played his part at the shipyard.

On the second day of her tour,

Her Majesty visited the University of Ulster at Coleraine.

Chosen because of its closed campus,

the Queen had to be helicoptered to the site.

Less than an hour before she arrived, there was a bomb warning.

I was actually a young police cadet, so I was only 17 years of age.

And there had been a lot of violence associated with

the expectation of the visit in Belfast.

And so there was a considerable number of police and soldiers

on the streets, because there was all sorts of threats

to the Queen's life, to make it a visit to remember

with the IRA at the time.

So there was obviously security implications

and it was tense, very tense.

You could actually palpably feel that in the atmosphere.

The visit went ahead

and the Queen used her speech to look to the future.

There are hopeful signs of reconciliation and understanding.

Policemen and soldiers have told me

of the real cooperation they are receiving.

I have sensed a common bond and a shared hope for the future.

For all that, there were some

who were downright hostile to the Queen's presence.

You had almost a breakdown of society here,

and yet you had this genteel garden party in the Hillsborough,

and you had demonstrations in West Belfast, upheaval in Derry,

confrontations all over the place,

and yet almost a pretence of normality in other areas,

you know, with the Royal yacht out off the County Down coast,

and almost the colonial imagery of that era.

Others, despite the Troubles and civil strife,

still remember the jubilee warmly.

We were put out of our home due to the Troubles

and we were moved to new buildings,

and that was '72,

and then along came her jubilee, five years later.

And I remember, we done a street party.

Being new to that area and so forth, just making friends all over again,

it was a great way to bring people together.

I remember that day, with the back garden all decorated.

And I had planted a cherry blossom tree, a stick it was then.

If you see it now, it's huge. But I won't let anybody touch it.

And every time I look at it, I just think, you know,

that was planted for the Queen.

A street party just like this one, where dozens of friends

and neighbours turned out to toast Her Majesty.

But when the bunting was taken down and the trestle tables were

packed away, it was to be another 14 years before the Queen would return.

When the Queen did come back to Northern Ireland,

it was for just six hours in 1991,

to present new colours to the Ulster Defence Regiment in Lisburn.

A Royal visit was considered manageable,

with massive security, in 1991.

Also, of course, this followed the beginning

of the Hume-Adams dialogue.

The British knew that talks were under way.

It's possible there were assurances that no hostile action

would be taken against the Queen during that visit,

but, certainly, it came at an interesting time in relations.

Having said that, the Queen's speech was really to celebrate

the Ulster Defence Regiment -

not the most favourite regiment for Northern Irish Nationalism.

The UDR stands for those who are not prepared to stand by

and let evil prosper.

It provides for everyone in Northern Ireland,

regardless of faith or background, the opportunity

to make a contribution to the defeat of terrorism.

That contribution needs courage and a sense of duty,

together with a determination - which I share -

that terrorism cannot be allowed to win.

Visits in the 1990s were few and far between.

Security remained very tight.

But then, as the peace process gathered momentum,

the Queen herself played a part

at some of the symbolic moments of change.

In the year 2000, she took centre stage when she presented

the George Cross to the RUC in a sombre and moving occasion.

This award is an exceptional recognition of the outstanding

contribution made by the RUC to peace in Northern Ireland.

Changing, worrying times.

I mean, the RUC, famous name and motto and all the rest of it,

suddenly changed into PSNI.

Slightly, I think, a feeling amongst many of the serving police

that what they'd been trying to do all these years was being devalued,

the force was being disgraced, rubbing out its mark in history.

So, I thought that a sense of solidarity between the Crown

and the police here had a very real political weight behind it.

And while she sought at such times

to give reassurance to the Unionist community,

slowly, a relationship was growing with the Nationalist community.

So, two years later, it wasn't just Unionist politicians she met.

The sun was shining when, to mark her Golden Jubilee,

the Queen and Prince Philip revisited Stormont nearly

half a century after their first visit to Parliament Buildings.

And while some things were the same, others were very different.

In 1998, Northern Ireland had endorsed the Good Friday Agreement,

voting to set up a power-sharing assembly

and to govern by cross-community consent.

I remember that very well, and I think this was seen as

a Royal seal of approval for what had been achieved.

It was seen at the time, I think, as a leg up for Trimble and Durkan.

It was important, I think,

a sense again of this modern Queen we've talked about embracing changes

that could not have been foreseen at the beginning of her long reign.

This time, the monarch was greeted not just by Unionist grandees,

but by Unionist and Nationalist First and Deputy First Ministers.

Significantly, though, members of Sinn Fein stayed away.

She came in 2002 when Northern Ireland

was really having a lot of difficulty.

Yes, the Good Friday Agreement had been signed and implemented

and we had the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP,

but people on the street knew it was beginning to fall apart,

and when the Queen came, it was, as I say, another step

on her interest in Northern Ireland.

The fact that the Queen wanted to speak in the chamber

and it was blocked,

I think a lot of people found that very hard to understand.

This was our Parliament.

Why would she not be speaking in the Parliament?

I have to say, the Queen very graciously didn't

take it as an insult, took it as a sign

that we were moving on, but moving on slowly.

But 2002, I think, was a real watershed.

For the first time in her reign,

the Queen made a keynote speech on politics in Northern Ireland,

in which she praised the progress towards peace.

Life has never been straightforward here, but I welcome the real sense

of normality that has, over recent years,

been returning to the lives of ordinary people, even if tempered,

from time to time, by moments of disappointment and pessimism.

You now have a better future for Northern Ireland in your grasp.

The fragility of peace and the terrible cost when it is breached

was keenly felt in Omagh, where the Queen travelled earlier that day.

Just four years previously, a Real IRA bomb had killed 29 people

and unborn twins in the worst atrocity of the Troubles.

In an unscheduled stop, the Royal couple visited the site

of the bomb and paid tribute to the victims at the memorial garden.

Godfrey Wilson's 15-year-old daughter, Lorraine,

was among those murdered.

The town, 2002, was complete uproar.

Timbers lying round the place.

And the press officer, he called me over

and said, "Would you like to get a photograph with the Queen?"

I said, "Yeah, I would."

I wasn't properly dressed. I had only an anorak on me, no tie.

I said, "Could you lend me your tie to dress myself up a bit?"

She asked where we were from -

were we in the town or near the town at the time?

I said that we just lived half a mile out the road.

Well, it meant a great respect for the Queen

to go to the bombsite and respect what I'd lost.

I appreciate her for that.

That meeting typified one side of the Queen's role -

serious, sombre, reflecting her role as head of state.

Then there is another side to what the Queen does -

a lighter side, one that means just as much to the people involved.

In the words of one of her key advisers -

never forget, we are in the happiness business

and this is what that looks like.

APPLAUSE

Behind the scenes, a lot goes on that we don't see,

including soothing frayed nerves.

I say to people before they go into the room,

"Remember, this is one of the greatest opportunities of your life.

"Be on your best behaviour and give it your best shot,

"because it's possibly going to be on camera, you want it

"captured by a photographer and you want to be doing the thing right."

A lot of people were excited and very nervous,

but then became terribly calm in the presence of their Queen.

It's peculiar how she makes people feel so relaxed.

When I walked in, the orchestra was playing up in the gallery.

They started to play Danny Boy and I nearly went to bits, nearly.

I said, "Right, OK, let's go for it," and I went.

The Queen was standing and she was on a wee platform.

As I approached her, I thought, "Gosh, you're tiny!" She was small.

But, oh, my goodness, I'll never forget her.

Her skin was perfection.

She was just a perfect lady, that's all I can say.

Even to shake her hand, I thought, "I'll never wash this hand again."

Those in the know say the Queen pays close attention to every detail.

The fun that we used to have in the preparation was not only

about thinking about the flowers and the food and the wine

and the supper parties and all of those things,

was the arrival of the clothes, for example.

The entourage would arrive days, a day-and-a-half with the clothes,

with the Queen's dresses.

She would probably be already on tour within the United Kingdom,

so all 30 dresses would come.

30 hats, 30 bags and matching umbrellas, and that was fun,

just to see all of that stacking up in the hall before the footmen

would take it upstairs to the dresser's room.

Very little it seems escapes her eye.

When I presented the posy to the Queen, she said,

"Ooh, you have flowers on your shoes too," and she remarked on my lovely

dress and how lovely the flowers were, but it was a lovely day.

It was very nervous beforehand, especially

when I arrived at the garden party and could see her mingling with

the crowd, but when I met her,

she was just so lovely and so kind, and I think...

she just made me feel more at ease when she was chatting to me.

Very down-to-earth, very humble, very respectful

of the company that she was in

and her horticultural knowledge impressed me. She talked about

the trees around and the change from when she had been there previously,

some 20 years earlier.

But she put you at ease, I had a very nice conversation with her

and it was a really enjoyable, sunny day.

Many would argue that the monarchy always appears to be the same,

yet it also appears that this monarch is making subtle changes.

Part of that quiet reform was played out in County Armagh

when in 2008, the Queen travelled to Ireland's ecclesiastical centre.

For the first time, an 800-year-old tradition was altered

when the Royal Maundy service was held outside England

and Wales in St Patrick's Cathedral.

Her Majesty presented Maundy Thursday alms to 164

people from every part of Northern Ireland.

Throughout these years, a relationship was being

fostered between the Queen and another woman,

born and brought up in Belfast, who is now the Irish President.

They met in Belgium, in London and here at Hillsborough Castle in 2005.

I think, significantly on the island of Ireland, for me,

it was a very important evening.

The Queen was upstairs resting, having her downtime.

The Duke of Edinburgh was also in attendance

and the President arrives at the door.

Mary McAleese, of course, was no stranger to me

and when she came to the door,

she said, "A difficult one for you today.

"Which one of the two of us are you going to favour?"

I said, "Your Excellency, it is you. You're the visitor."

If the Irish President could visit the Queen at Hillsborough,

could a state visit to the Republic ever take place?

As the crow flies, it's less than 300 miles between the

Queen's London home, Buckingham Palace, and Dublin,

but the delicate dance of diplomacy,

the inch-by-inch nature of the political process meant that

relations between the two countries had to be exactly

right before the visit could take place

and the Queen could travel from London to here, the Irish capital.

A short plane journey away,

but more than 800 years of history to be bridged.

Prince William said his grandmother viewed Ireland as a door that

had been locked to her for a very long time.

Now, on the other side of that door, she looked delighted.

There was a feeling that it would be a great relief,

that finally this was happening.

The Queen was in Ireland after all these years,

after all these decades, centuries indeed of her predecessors coming,

but it went much better than even they could have hoped.

One, was the length of the visit.

That was quite of concern at the start,

that, "Oh, my God, she's going to be around for all these days

"and it won't work,"

but she took a punt on it, Buckingham Palace did, and

that the length of the love-in would last that long and it did,

and second was the love-in itself.

I mean, it wasn't out of control or gushing.

It was actually quite measured

and I think people were genuinely moved that the British monarch

had come to Ireland on a message and mission

of healing and reconciliation.

Expectations couldn't have been higher.

Every event was laden with symbolism.

Every moment breaking old taboos.

From the laying of a wreath

by the Queen at the Garden of Remembrance...

..the Republic's monument

to those who fought in the battle for the country's independence...

..to her visit to Irelandbridge,

to honour the Irish dead of the Great War...

..to her trip to Croke Park, the home of Gaelic games.

At a state banquet held in the Queen's honour in Dublin Castle,

she opened her address with a greeting in Irish to the obvious

joy of the Irish President.

A Uachtarain...

..agus a chairde.

Wow!

But the speech soon turned to the pain of the past...

..something Elizabeth II understands very well,

because it had touched her own family in 1979.

Lord Mountbatten, her cousin and Prince Philip's uncle,

was murdered by the IRA in County Sligo.

The former First Sea Lord

and three others were killed in a bomb explosion on their boat.

And so on that evening in Dublin in 2011, she reflected on a long

and troubled history.

With the benefit of historical hindsight,

we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently

or not at all.

It is a sad and regrettable reality that through

the history, our islands have experienced more

than their fair share of heartache, turbulence and loss.

These events have touched us all, many of us personally,

and are a painful legacy.

We could never forget those who have died or been injured

and their families.

The Queen's visit closed the circle on centuries of distrust,

of mutual dislike and division.

She brought respect,

she gave respect to the Republic as it developed

and the relationship between the two islands, and I think it was,

yeah, the closing of the circle, a large healing and a normalisation.

So that she as monarch in Britain, United Kingdom,

Ireland as an adjoining part of next door could move on into a new future

and leave some of the animosities of the past behind.

I go to Dublin quite often, I sit on the British Irish Parliamentary

Assembly, and they still talk about it

as if it was the one big event in their lives, that the

British Queen came, and again, Mary McAleese was present

and Martin, and I just think it was another part of the jigsaw

being put in place. The very fact that she spoke in Irish.

The very fact that she took the trouble to do it, I think

showed how interested she was that the North

and South should become good friends and she's been a key factor in that.

Yes, she said, perhaps people will say she was only being used,

and I think the Queen's aware of many times she's being used

that way, but as our Queen, she's happy to do that for her people.

From Silver to Golden to Diamond Jubilee,

2012 was another milestone year for the Queen and Northern Ireland.

Church bells and cheers heralded the Royal entrance in Enniskillen

for a service at St Macartin's Church of Ireland Cathedral.

Thanksgiving for 60 years of service.

A further sign of bridge-building,

the Queen stepped across the road to St Michael's, entering,

for the first time, a Catholic Church on the island of Ireland.

The historic firsts continued with a handshake between Her Majesty

and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.

Just four seconds, but heavy with symbolic power.

It was incredibly difficult to anybody who has lost a loved

one, to meet with somebody who is the embodiment of the people who

were involved in the killing of your loved one.

The Queen is no different.

She's a human being with human feelings like anybody else

and she carries herself in an incredibly different way,

but I have no doubt that as an individual,

all of those thoughts about Lord Louis Mountbatten were going through

her head, the same as it would've anybody on a similar day,

of anybody who had lost a loved one,

so I have no doubt that it had a huge impact on her.

She did it. She did it.

I think she's enormously dutiful and I would imagine that

this had been very carefully discussed

among Royal and political circles but, you know,

I think she wanted, at the end of the day, to make a healing gesture.

For someone like Martin McGuinness to meet the Queen in those

circumstances, in Belfast,

in his role as Deputy First Minister

was clearly a major development.

Others have met the Queen, Irish presidents have met the Queen

down the years and that had helped to pave the way for that visit,

but for someone who wasn't just in the broad Nationalist tradition

but from Sinn Fein, and someone with Martin McGuinness's

particular background, that's clearly a big deal.

Back at the seat of power, this time in an open-top car.

Two years later, meetings between the monarch and the Republican

Deputy First Minister are, if not the norm, then, well, normal.

-How are you keeping?

-Fine, thank you very much.

-Nice to see you.

Very glad to be back again here.

And so to 2016,

a year that marks two significant centenaries on this island,

that of the Easter Rising and of the sacrifice at the Somme.

And thoughts of times past may well have been in the minds of the Royal

couple as they completed their train ride along the north coast,

a journey they first undertook in 1953.

This time they were accompanied by local

schoolchildren as they travelled that route to Bellarena,

where the Queen officially opened the new train station.

So, six decades after she first arrived here as monarch,

the Queen has revisited her journey along the north coast

and in the sweep of years between those two visits,

so much has changed.

Northern Ireland is a very different place to the one she saw

in 1953. Devolution has reshaped the United Kingdom and in the wake of

the referendum on Europe, the pace of change looks sure to accelerate.

There are those who will argue that one thing remains constant -

Queen Elizabeth II.