After the fanfare of "Devolution Day," the final set of engagements of the President, Mrs McAleese, at the end of a weeklong visit to Scotland and England was low-key yesterday, as she took time to reflect on "building bridges" across Anglo-Irish history.
In the political sphere of that shared history, the President said the "inspirational" developments in Northern Ireland involved the establishment of new institutions, among them the British-Irish Council. It would be devoted to "nurturing a fresh and dynamic" relationship between Britain and Ireland.
"It is important to remind ourselves that we are engaged in a process of softening hearts and minds, eradicating old contempts and looking at each other through respectful, maybe even joyfully curious eyes." The President made her comments at a lunch in the University of Surrey in Guildford, to mark the conferring of an honorary degree, Doctor of the University of Surrey, upon her.
The lunch was co-hosted by the Duke of Kent, who is Chancellor of the University of Surrey.
Earlier in the day, the President visited St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, in west London, which is affiliated to the University of Surrey and which nominated the President for the honorary degree in recognition of her efforts to "build bridges" between Britain and Ireland. She met staff and Irish students.
Greeting past and present staff from the Centre for Irish Studies in the college's 19th-century Waldegrave Dining Room, the President was reunited with her cousin, Mr Jim O'Hara, who established the Irish studies degree course at the college in 1990.
"Both our fathers were publicans in Ardoyne," Mr O'Hara said.