Queen arrives in Northern Ireland for landmark visit

THE Queen arrived in Enniskillen today for a two-day tour celebrating her Diamond Jubilee and the diversity of Northern Ireland’s people.

Her six decades on the throne were marked by a cathedral service of thanksgiving in the town, which was the scene of a devastating IRA bomb attack in November 1987.

A few minutes walk from St Macartin’s Cathedral is the local cenotaph that has become a memorial commemorating the 11 people killed in the blast which happened during a Remembrance Day service.

The Queen was to meet victims’ relatives after the service.

Her visit will also be marked by a historic handshake with Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness.

The greeting between the Stormont Deputy First Minister – a former IRA commander – and the Queen in Belfast tomorrow will herald another milestone in Anglo-Irish relations.

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK has seen her travel from Nottingham and Leicester to London and Henley-on-Thames in celebration of her reign.

And thousands of people lined the streets of Enniskillen today to greet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as they made their way to the cathedral in a chauffeur-driven car.

A trumpet fanfare marked their arrival in the 17th century cathedral, where they were welcomed by the Dean of Clogher, the Very Reverend Kenneth Hall.