Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Ireland (May 2011) is presented through its public reception and its place in the book’s later chronology. The available account records that Dolours Price welcomed the visit, setting that response against contemporary reports of a major terror alert and of growing popular regard for the Queen.

A visit under security alert

A Daily Express report cited in the book framed the Queen’s arrival in Ireland against a major terror alert. The visit therefore enters the narrative not simply as a royal appearance, but as a public occasion taking place amid continuing security concerns. The material does not detail the itinerary or specific incidents during the visit.

Public reception

The book also cites a Guardian report published on 19 May 2011, two days after the Daily Express report. Its headline described a show of respect as turning the Queen into a runaway favourite. Alongside that account of public reception, the narrative notes that Dolours Price welcomed the visit, a response that places her in the book’s account of changing attitudes toward the monarchy and the peace-era public landscape.

Later historical context

The visit is indexed to pages 355–56 and is set in a period when public gestures involving former republican leaders and the monarchy carried particular weight. The book later notes that Marian Price was still in prison in June 2012, when the Queen and Martin McGuinness took part in their historic handshake. That later event is distinct from the 2011 visit, but the contrast places the visit within a continuing sequence of changing public relations and unresolved personal circumstances.