Beneath the arms and armour of a thousand years of monarchy, the former chief of the IRA’s Northern Command had dinner with the Sovereign at Windsor last night. And he heard her declare firmly: ‘We are walking together towards a brighter, more settled, future. We shall remember our past but we will no longer allow our past to ensnare our future.’ On a day brimming with powerful symbolism in honour of the first state visit by a President of the Republic of Ireland, there were so many historic moments to choose from – President Michael D Higgins bowing at Westminster Abbey’s Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and addressing both Houses of Parliament; the Irish head of state being invited (in Irish) to inspect the Grenadier Guards.
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Mr McGuinness boycotted Queen’s state visit to the Republic in 2011
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On this reciprocal visit, he was determined not to misjudge the mood again
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Mr McGuinness was seated just 16 places down from the Prince of Wales
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Captured in conversation with both the British and Irish Prime Ministers
But even the clattering pomp of a full state carriage procession through cheering Windsor streets festooned with the Irish tricolour could not match the significance of @placeholder – in white tie and tails – rising to toast the Queen and the British people at last night’s state banquet.