Platinum Jubilee: Northern Ireland’s peace-making monarch

All she did was cross the street but that small gesture by the Queen made an enormous contribution to community relations in Northern Ireland.

By walking from the Protestant cathedral to the Roman Catholic one in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Her Majesty set a standard for others to follow.

Viscount Brookeborough, Lord Lieutenant of County Fermanagh, said: “This, when she crossed the street, was a turning point for the people of the town and the county.”

“It seriously made it acceptable for both communities to go into each other’s churches,” he added.

It was no coincidence that this act of reconciliation took place in Enniskillen, scene of one of the worst IRA atrocities, the Poppy Day bombing.

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