LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday became the first British monarch in a century to set foot on Irish soil, during a trip designed to celebrate improved Anglo-Irish relations.
In a scene that seemed impossible until recently, the British anthem, “God Save the Queen,” rang out moments before the queen laid a wreath at a garden in Dublin dedicated to those who lost their lives struggling for Irish freedom, often against oppressive British control.
But the historic nature of the tour threatened to be overshadowed by security jitters.
Following a telephone tip, an improvised explosive device was discovered on a bus late Monday, just hours before the queen arrived in Ireland with her husband, Prince Philip. The bomb, described as “viable” by Irish police, was disabled.
Earlier Monday, British police received a coded bomb threat for central London, sparking heightened security in the British capital. Authorities said they believed the threat came from dissident Irish Republicans.
The Irish police force, which canceled all vacation leave for the second half of May, has deployed more than 8,000 police officers to maintain security during the queen’s four-day visit, and the Irish army has mobilized more than 2,000 troops.
The queen is the first reigning British monarch to visit Ireland since the country’s 1922 independence from Britain and an ensuing civil war that ended with the mostly Protestant six counties of Northern Ireland still part of the United Kingdom. The last to visit was her grandfather, King George V, who traveled to Dublin in 1911.
Irish President Mary Mc Aleese, who invited the queen, told Ireland’s RTE network that the 85-year-old monarch’s visit was “an extraordinary moment in Irish history, a phenomenal sign and signal of the success of the peace process.”
