Why a royal family member at a commemoration of Irish independence would be significant
Opinion: Unlocking Queen Elizabeth’s ‘secret garden’ of Ireland
‘Ultimately, the Anglo-Irish relationship comes down to the narcissism of small differences, to the fact that the English and Irish are alike but not too alike.’ President Michael D Higgins and Queen Elizabeth during the banquet held at Windsor Castle during the State visit of President Higgins. Photograph: Alan Betson
For years the English debated the Irish Question; and the Irish discussed their English Question. Whenever the English came up with a solution, the Irish demurred – and were accused of changing the question.
Nowadays, England increasingly feels itself to be like a British colony. It encourages the Scots to flirt with a home rule parliament as a way of exploring this hidden option for itself (Tony Blair wrote such a possibility into the Belfast Agreement, which speaks of “devolved institutions” not just in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but “if appropriate, elsewhere in the United Kingdom”).