Reconciliation could possibly be thought-about the theme of the primary official go to of King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, to Northern Eire. The royal couple’s itinerary included an engagement at Hillsborough Fortress, the royal residence in Northern Eire; and a service of reflection and thanksgiving at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.
King Charles and Camilla met political leaders in Hillsborough, whereas the service within the cathedral was attended by non secular, civic, and political leaders, together with Prime Minister Liz Truss, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and Irish President Michael D. Higgins.
Within the tv protection, the theme of the service was recognized as ‘a brand new starting’ and in some methods, the optics and organisation of it bore that out. Right here the ‘new’ Northern Eire, one that’s transferring past its troubled previous, was portrayed.
So King Charles entered the cathedral and greeted leaders of Northern Eire’s religion communities (Christian and people of different faiths). Each Protestant and Catholic religion leaders took half within the service itself.
In what would have been unimaginable throughout a lot of the interval of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Sinn Féin’s Alex Maskey, the speaker of the Northern Eire Meeting (and a former republican prisoner), learn from the New Testomony. Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin led the prayers, giving thanks for the lifetime of the Queen. It could possibly be mentioned that their participation embodied a sort of reconciliation – or at the least an appreciation of the Queen’s instance of reconciliation.
Church of Eire Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell delivered the sermon, making Queen Elizabeth’s contributions to reconciliation the central theme. He referred to her visits to the Republic of Eire in 2011 and Northern Eire in 2012.
In her 2011 go to, the primary by a British monarch since Irish independence, Queen Elizabeth laid a wreath in Dublin’s Backyard of Remembrance. She then bowed her head and stood solemnly with Irish President Mary McAleese in a second of reflection. She additionally she started her remarks in Dublin Fortress by talking in Irish – to the seen shock and delight of President McAleese. On the time many had been stunned by how a lot these gestures resonated throughout the island.
McDowell additionally recalled how in her 2012 go to she travelled to Enniskillen, the place she crossed the road from St Macartin’s Church of Eire Cathedral to St Michael’s Catholic Church – small however symbolically vital steps.
However that go to is greatest remembered for her four-second handshake with Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness. This has been interpreted for example of forgiveness and reconciliation. On this it’s vital that the royal household was bereaved throughout the Troubles, when Prince Philip’s uncle, Lord Mountbatten, died in an IRA assault in 1979.
Facets of the assembly in Hillsborough additionally had non secular overtones, with King Charles saying that his mom ‘by no means ceased to hope for the very best of instances for this place and its folks’. Maskey learn a message of condolence from the Meeting wherein he praised the Queen however lamented the shortage of management elsewhere – which couldn’t assist however be understood as a reference to Northern Eire’s personal stalled politics.
Taken collectively, these components of King Charles and Camilla’s go to could possibly be framed as a possibility to take inventory and prioritise reconciliation in our political and civic relationships.
One of many architectural options of St Anne’s is the ‘Spire of hope’, erected in 2007. The title was chosen as a result of it appeared a time when Belfast, and Northern Eire, was transferring right into a future of recent beginnings.
The spire jogs my memory of a ray of daylight, and brings to thoughts lyrics from Neil Hannon’s (The Divine Comedy) solely track in regards to the (ending of) the Troubles, Dawn:
From the nook of my eye
A touch of blue within the black sky
A ray of hope, a beam of sunshine
An finish to thirty years of night time
The church-bells ring, the youngsters sing
“What is that this unusual and delightful factor?”
It’s the dawn
Are you able to see the dawn?
I can see the dawn
It’s the solar rising
Every day, every dawn, is certainly a brand new starting. Northern Eire could have placed on its greatest appearances for the royal go to, however reconciliation isn’t one thing that’s achieved as soon as and for all. It has to occur anew day by day, day after day.
Gladys is a Reader in Sociology at Queen’s College Belfast. She additionally blogs on faith and politics at www.gladysganiel.com
