Queen Elizabeth stood yesterday on the spot on Omagh's Market Street where a "Real IRA" car bomb exploded nearly four years ago killing 29.
Her visit to the scene in the Sinn Féin-held constituency followed hasty rescheduling of her first full day's visit to the North. Buckingham Palace confirmed that the change was a "last-minute decision". Escorted by the Northern Secretary, the queen listened as Dr John Reid outlined details of the worst single atrocity in the Troubles.
Looking sombre, she looked around as the reconstruction of the street continued. In contrast her husband, Prince Philip, exchanged pleasantries with the small number of enthusiastic locals who had turned out.
Rumours of a late change in her itinerary emerged throughout the morning. Visiting British journalists speculated about plans by a tabloid newspaper to run a hostile story if the queen did not see the bomb site for herself.
Before she arrived on Monday, visit organisers had been adamant that no walkabout near Market Street had been included in the plans.
Mr Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the explosion, protested to the Northern Ireland Office. He said there was no valid reason for a VIP visit to Omagh other than to see the bomb site.
"This will send out a powerful message that the people in high places have not forgotten Omagh and are standing with the people affected who will be very encouraged by this," he said afterwards.
Earlier, Queen Elizabeth kept what should have been her sole engagement in Omagh. Visiting the town library she met around two dozen local groups and listened to a short presentation from Mr Perry McDonnell and Mr Patrick Bogues of the Omagh 2010 Task Force, an investment project formed after the bombing.
She also met the North's culture minister Mr Michael McGimpsey who told The Irish Times: "There is a strong sense of symbolism in Omagh today based on sympathy for the atrocity here." He said he would like the queen to visit Dublin but declined to comment on the possibility. A well-placed source said a royal visit to the Republic was possible next year.
Outside several hundred children from Omagh Academy and Omagh High School waved Union flags and one Rangers flag. A cross-community choir sang Danny Boy and other perennial favourites.
The day's official engagements began in Co Fermanagh where the royal couple visited the village of Ballinamallard.
The queen also visited Loughry College near Cookstown, Co Tyrone where she met relatives of the Omagh victims and those affected by other atrocities.
Later at Hillsborough, she signed papers granting city status to Newry, Co Down and Lisburn, Co Antrim.
Last night Queen Elizabeth told members of the Stormont Assembly that she welcomes the sense of normality that had returned to Northern Ireland in recent years.
She was speaking in the Great Hall at Parliament Buildings in Belfast, where she met all the members of the Assembly except Sinn Féin representatives who stayed away. However, there was no republican protest outside Stormont.
Addressing Assembly members, Queen Elizabeth said: "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. This Assembly, together with the other new institutions, governing relations with the rest of the UK and with Ireland, can meet the aspirations both of those who are proud to be British and of those who feel a strong sense of Irish identity."
She paid a special tribute to "the brave men and women who have died in the course of their duties, whether as police, prison and fire officers, or as members of the armed forces". The Assembly could demonstrate that it was possible to "build trust, and in doing so continue the building of a new Northern Ireland".