State visit of the President of Ireland to the United Kingdom with full cavalry escort to Windsor Castle, where the President, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, inspected a Guard of Honour provided by the 1st Battalion Irish Guards. President Higgins presented a ceremonial red coat to its regimental mascot, an Irish Wolfhound called Domhnall of Shantamon. The President viewed Irish-related items from the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. Afterwards they departed for London and visited Westminster Abbey for a tour, where the President laid a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and paid his respects with a bow to the tomb of Louis, the Earl of Mountbatten. After
The Unknown Warrior entered the castle library and placed the coffin into a casket of the oak timbers of trees from Hampton Court Palace. The casket was banded with iron, and a medieval crusader's sword chosen by King George V personally from the Royal Collection was affixed to the top and surmounted by an iron shield bearing the inscription 'A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914–1918 for King and Country'. The casket was then placed onto a French military wagon, drawn by six black horses. At 10.30 am, all the church bells of Boulogne tolled; the massed trumpets of the