Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill has accepted an invitation to attend the coronation of King Charles.
Northern Ireland’s first Minister-designate told Sky News “we live in a changing space” and said she was honouring her pledge to “represent all of the community”.
She said: “There are those in our community who have a British identity and allegiance to the monarchy and I think it’s important that I, as a first minister for all, can be respectful of their viewpoint.”
Asked about the significance of an Irish republican attending such a British occasion, she replied: “Well there’s no doubt republicanism and the monarchy, they are two things that are very much at odds but again, I think it’s just the world we live in.
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“We live in a very changing space and I think that those of us in political leadership need to have the confidence from our own background, our own standpoint.
“It doesn’t diminish my republicanism to attend the coronation of the King, to be respectful to those people here of a British identity, whose political allegiance is pointed that way.”
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Ms O’Neill warmly grasped the King’s hand with both of her hands to sympathise with him when he visited Northern Ireland following his mother’s death last year.
He thanked her for her “incredibly kind words” about the Queen when they met at Hillsborough Castle.
Ms O’Neill replied: “Well she played a great role here in terms of reconciliation and building our peace so it is the end of an era for sure.”
As Sinn Fein vice president, she attended the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, where the coronation will also take place.
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Twenty years ago, it would have been unthinkable for an Irish republican to be present at such a royal event.
But the Queen’s historic state visit to Ireland in June 2011 was a game-changer, signalling a new era in Anglo-Irish relations.
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A year later, Her Majesty shook hands with Northern Ireland’s then deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander.
In 2015, Prince Charles, visited Mullaghmore in County Sligo, where the IRA had murdered his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten.
The following day, the then heir to the throne visited Galway, where he shook hands with Gerry Adams, the man who led Sinn Fein for 35 years.
