One small surprise about the Irish coverage of the Queen’s visit – everybody called her Queen Elizabeth - something you never hear on this island, where she is always just The Queen.
One thing I remember being taught at school, amid all the excitement of having a new young Queen on the throne, a new Elizabethan Age & a Coronation to look forward to, was that the Queen Elizabeth of our history books would henceforth be known as Elizabeth I, now that we had Elizabeth II. So I am not sure that it would be technically strictly correct, in the same way that it is correct to refer to Queen Victoria, for us to call her plain unnumbered Queen Elizabeth.
Perhaps the Irish are just, ever so subtly, making the point that she is not the only Queen in the world.
Of course, until 2002 we in fact had two living Queens Elizabeth, since her mother, the widow of a monarch, remained a Queen.
And now there is the excitement of the Obama visit. I wonder if we should read any significance into the fact that he has brought stormy weather with him?
We marvel at how an old lady can say so much without saying anything – contributor to RTÉ Radio 1
