The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit a notorious former jail and the Game of Thrones set on the second day of their Northern Ireland visit.
On Monday, the Queen held separate meetings with Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness.
The Royal couple's first engagement of the day is a tour of Crumlin Road Gaol in north Belfast.
They will then be shown the Paint Hall Studios in the city's Titanic Quarter.
The popular US television series Game of Thrones is partly filmed there, and it is a focal point for the burgeoning film industry in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers will accompany the Queen on a tour of the former prison, where both politicians were held during the Troubles.
Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, a former former IRA commander, was held in the prison for more than a month in 1976 on a charge of IRA membership - a charge that was later dropped in court.
The deputy first minister described the Queen's planned visit to the Crumlin Road prison as another "bold step".
"The vast bulk of our people appreciate the effort Queen Elizabeth is making to peace and the reconciliation process and I think many people will look at the visit to the Crumlin Road prison, for example, with a degree of astonishment," he said.
Democratic Unionist Party leader and First Minister Peter Robinson was detained on a number of occasions in the prison during the 1980s for his involvement in protests against the controversial Anglo Irish Agreement.
The jail is now a popular visitor attraction in Northern Ireland.
The next stop on the Royal couple's 21st visit to Northern Ireland is St George's Market, where they will experience a one-off event billed as celebrating the "best of Belfast".
The market is usually open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but the special opening is being held to celebrate it recently winning the title of best large indoor market in the United Kingdom.
The market will be open to the public.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will then travel to the nearby Belfast City Hall for a lunch hosted by the city's Lord Mayor Nichola Mallon.
Representatives of communities and groups across the city will be among those attending.
'Hand of friendship'
The first engagement of the Royal couple's three-day visit was at Hillsborough Castle, the Queen's official residence in Northern Ireland.
The Queen held separate private meetings with Northern Ireland's Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness.
It was the third meeting between the Queen and Mr McGuinness but their first one-to-one encounter.
After meeting on Monday evening, Mr McGuinness said it was "about reaching out the hand of friendship to the unionist community".
"I met Queen Elizabeth tonight in my role as Deputy First Minister, representing the entire community," said the Sinn Féin assembly member.
"Reconciliation requires bold gestures and this is the third time I have met with Queen Elizabeth as part of that continuing process."
Meanwhile, Prince Philip met about 75 recipients of the Duke of Edinburgh gold awards.
It is the Queen's first visit to Northern Ireland since 2012, when she came as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
In the past, details of Royal visits to Northern Ireland have not been announced beforehand for security reasons, but this time around, much of their itinerary has been made public. Source
No comments:
Post a Comment