2012年4月14日 星期六
Queen's visit to Ireland
At the moment when Scotland seems to be moving away from the Crown, the Republic of Ireland should seem to be moving towards a historic reconciliation with Britain, and the Crown that embodies it. For that is certainly what the visit of the Queen to the Republic of Ireland, starting this morning, really means: it is a historic reconciliation. Mary McAleese, the President of Ireland, will say so herself in a national broadcast this evening on Irish television.
The Queen, for her part, will make a deeply significant gesture today: she will lay a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin's Parnell Square. This rectangular space was opened in 1966 to commemorate the patriots who died for Ireland. The words of remembrance are poetically tactful: "In the darkness of despair, we saw a vision. We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished in the desert of discouragement… O generations of freedom, remember us, the generations of the vision." But, in truth, we are talking about Irish rebels who were executed by the Crown. What an extraordinary moment of historical reconciliation indeed.
You can't please some people, of course, and there is a minority of strong nationalists who disapprove of the Queen appearing at the Garden of Remembrance. These want more: an abject apology for "800 years of English oppression" (counting from the Normans, who were hardly, at that point, "English"). They want a special apology for Cromwell's depredations – though surely Cromwell himself was no friend of royalty.
They object to the ceremonial role that the Queen holds as head of the British Armed Forces. They want the Six Counties of Northern Ireland to be handed over to the Republic, although the Irish people have voted by referendum against coercive territorial claims.
But then, because the relationship between Ireland and the British monarchy is so underpinned by all the psychological complexities of love-hate, attitudes to a visiting monarch have often been inconsistent...
Source: the Telegraph May 2011
Queen Elizabeth meets Irish President Mcaleese on December 2nd 1999
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Source: the Telegraph May 2011
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