Madam, – Perhaps, given our straitened circumstances – including our current financial indebtedness to our neighbouring islanders, amongst others – there is an opportunity for Her Majesty to re-read Joyce's Dublinersprior to her journey, without the risk of circumventing the irony at play. Think of Mr Henchy in "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" placing himself in the mind of Edward VII, the last reigning monarch to visit our shores: "The old one never went to see these wild Irish. By Christ, I'll go myself and see what they're like". – Yours, etc,