Was never going to be easy due to tensions on both sides but will hopefully help improve relations between Britain and Ireland which are already pretty close on a non political level
The Queen in green (and white): Monarch shrugs off bomb alerts and protests to lay wreath for Irish who died in independence fight
# Around 100 protesters clash with police and flare
# Queen changes outfit to white as she lays wreath
# Pipe bomb detonated after being found in luggage compartment of a coach
# Queen's four-day state visit the first by British monarch since 1911
The Queen laid a wreath for those who died in the battle for Irish independence this afternoon during her historic state visit to Ireland.
Dressed in white after changing out of an emerald green outfit, the monarch paid her respects in the Garden of Remembrance as the Irish tricolour flew at half mast.
Nearby some minor fights broke out as protesters clashed with police - but despite the unrest the Queen ploughed on unperturbed.
The Queen, dressed in white, and Irish President Mary McAleese, arrive to lay a wreath in the Garden of Remembrance this afternoon
Flares were lit as dissident republican supporters clashed with officers as she became the first British royal to visit Ireland since 1911.
As if to underline the tensions, hours before she arrived a bomb was discovered on the outskirts of the Irish capital.
The 'viable improvised explosive device', found in the luggage compartment of a bus, was blown up in a controlled blast in the early hours of this morning, an army spokesman said.
This afternoon flares were lit and thrown into the air as hundreds of police lined the streets while the Queen laid the wreath.
Fewer than 100 protesters scuffled with riot police as fireworks, bottles and cans were thrown by dissident republican supporters, some carrying placards in support of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement - the political wing of the Real IRA, which bombed Omagh in 1998, killing 29 people.
Snipers and armed police patrolled rooftops and a church spire overlooking the garden as spotter planes and the garda helicopter circled above.
The Queen shakes hands with Irish President Mary McAleese as she arrives in Ireland for the first visit by a British monarch since George V in 1911
The Queen and Irish President Mary McAleese talk today as Prince Philip and the Irish President's husband Martin watch
The riot police maintained order at two separate protests on streets several hundred yards from the garden.
The Garden of Remembrance opened in Easter 1966 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising when seven signatories to Ireland's Proclamation of Independence, backed by the 1,000 strong Irish Citizen Army, launched a revolution against British rule beginning with the takeover of the GPO a few hundred yards away on O'Connell Street.
It is dedicated to 'the memory of all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom'.
Irish Gardai pin a protester to the floor during protests this afternoon. At least 100 protesters chanted slogans and torched the British flag
The Queen's attendance at the garden is a required element of the State visit under diplomatic protocol.
As the monarch arrived the Irish Tricolour flew at half mast.
Earlier the sovereign arrived in a green hat and coat and accepted flowers from eight-year-old Rachel Fox, from Dun Laoghaire, south Dublin.
The royal couple were also greeted off the plane by British Ambassador Julian King, Ireland's Ambassador to the UK Bobby McDonagh and Ireland's deputy prime minister, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore.
Royal arrival: The Queen and Prince Philip arrive at the Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, for the historic four-day state visit
The Royal couple were then driven to President Mary McAleese's residence in the Phoenix Park, Aras an Uachtarain, for a ceremonial welcome.
An unprecedented security operation, costing an estimated £26million, is in place to safeguard the Royal couple, which includes land, air and sea patrols and a ring of steel around the centre of the Irish capital.
Earlier as tensions ran high, a second suspect package was found at a tram station in Inchicore, Dublin, which later turned out to be a hoax.
Last night bomb disposal teams were drafted in as a bomb was found on a coach with around 30 passengers on board 40 miles outside Dublin.
Controversy: The Queen walks with Mary McAleese through the Francini corridor lined with bronze busts of former Presidents at Aras An Uachtarain, left, as Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams speaks out, right
The Queen inspects the Guard of Honour at at the Aras an Uachtarain, the official residence of the President of Ireland
The bus - operated by the state-owned Bus Eireann company - had been stopped outside a hotel, apparently after the tip-off.
Shortly before 2am it was made safe and the remains of the device were handed to the Irish police for investigation.
Before the Queen's plane touched down there were several security alerts in the city - including one in north Dublin just before she arrived.
There were also threats made forcing courthouses to be searched and cleared in Dundalk, Monaghan and Drogheda. No explosive devices were found.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny insisted that there was no chance the Royal visit would be cancelled - and said the threat is minimal.
Anger: The first visit by a British monarch to Ireland for 100 years has caused a huge amount of Republican anger - and an unprecedented security operation
He said: 'They've put in place a comprehensive security operation. You'll recall we've had American Presidents here before, a Pope.
'So obviously while there have been incidents, the Gardai (police) have been able to deal with those.'
Yesterday there was a coded bomb warning in London stoking fears that Irish dissidents are preparing to mark the Queen’s State visit to Ireland with an attack on the British mainland.
Security services in both countries were on high alert after Irish republican terrorists used a recognised code word in a warning message to Scotland Yard.
The ambiguous threat did not specify a location or time but sparked several operations during a tense day in central London. Officials said the message, made from a telephone in the Irish Republic on Sunday night, was the first coded warning in Britain for at least ten years.
A swathe of the capital between Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square was shut down for almost eight hours as jittery police dealt with a series of suspicious incidents.
Former security minister Lord West said the latest bomb warning was ‘extremely worrying’ and warned that security officials were aware of ‘sleeper cells’ who want to mount fresh attacks.
He said: ‘We know very well that a tiny number of dissidents are absolutely obsessed with trying to revert to the bloodshed, mayhem and blood massacres of the past.
‘They are wrong. The bulk of Irish people do not want that.’
Security sources have repeatedly warned that dissidents ‘aspire’ to mounting a bloody attack and the threat level was raised to ‘substantial’ last year.
There are concerns a massive lockdown in Dublin ahead of the Queen’s arrival today could force extremists to seek ‘softer’ targets.
The city was at the centre of the biggest security operation in the Irish Republic’s history as the Queen’s four-day state visit gets under way.
More than 8,000 Irish police and 2,000 troops will be deployed in the high-profile security operation.
Some groups have been angered by the Queen’s itinerary which includes a wreath-laying ceremony today at Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance, which honours all those who fought for Irish freedom, and a visit to Croke Park, scene of a massacre in 1920.
The Queen will be protected by 120 armed British police officers as she becomes the first British monarch to visit southern Ireland since King George V in 1911.
Last night 500 troops created a secure ring around Baldonnel Fortress, the military aerodrome where the Queen arrived today.
And a Giraffe air defence system – used to detect low-altitude aircraft targets – is on standby to protect Farmleigh, the country estate where the Queen is staying.
Last month, the Real IRA said the Queen was ‘wanted for war crimes’ and called on ‘all self-respecting Irishmen and women’ to resist the ‘insult’ of her visit.
In London yesterday, police and the public were warned to be ‘extra vigilant’ as officers dealt with two security alerts.
Outside Buckingham Palace, the Mall and several other roads were closed for several hours as officers investigated fears a manhole cover had been tampered with.
Police investigating a suspected break-in in the early hours reported that the large padlocked grate near St James’s Palace may have been moved.
Dogs trained to detect explosives and officers trained in searching confined spaces were lowered into the Victorian sewer network.
A short distance away, bomb disposal officers were called to a West End hotel after baggage was abandoned on the pavement outside.
The Queen looks back at Irish Defence Guard Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Sean McCann, at the Aras an Uachtarain, the president's official residence, in Dublin
Historic moment: The Queen shakes hands with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, left, as Irish President Mary McAleese, her husband Martin and Prince Philip look on
Fury: Protesters and police clashed on the streets of Dublin today as the Queen's visit sparked anger. This demonstrator, right, was wearing a pro-IRA t-shirt
The Irish police block a woman from crossing the street during a protest against the visit - hours after a viable bomb was discovered
A middle-aged woman clashes with police in the centre of Dublin as protests are held to coincide with the Queen's visit
A remote-controlled robot was used to stage a controlled explosion and destroy an empty black suitcase on Northumberland Avenue.
The Metropolitan Police said the threat level from Irish-related terrorism remained at ‘substantial’, meaning an attack is a strong possibility.
Security expert Crispin Black said the Queen's historic visit to Ireland has caused widespread anger among Republican extremist groups.
Mr Black, a Sandhurst-trained Falklands veteran, said that the alert could have been extremists showing that they 'are still there'.
He said dissident Republicans were 'extremely angry' about the Queen's visit and added: 'It is their way of showing that they are in a position to make these visits more difficult.
'From what I have seen going on in Dublin it is going to be quite difficult to do anything there - it has been locked down.
'Maybe they decided that Dublin was too difficult so they decided to do something in London just to show that they are still there.'
Mr Black was reluctant to speculate about which group may have been behind the call, but added: 'It has always been a test of the IRA's English department.
'If you can take the British at their own headquarters that can give a status boost and have a greater impact than on home turf. I gather there were great concerns that something would happen around the Royal Wedding.
'But now with the Queen arriving in Ireland it would be an appropriate time, if not to carry out an attack, then just to show people that they are still there.'
Protesters make their way through the centre of Dublin today as the Queen arrived for her historic visit
Gardai seal off O'Connell street outside the General Post Office in Dublin before the Queen arrives
Final preparations are made at the General Post Office before Queen Elizabeth II arrives for her historic four-day visit
A DAY AT THE RACES FOR THE QUEEN'S GRANDFATHER DURING HIS VISIT 100 YEARS AGO
The Queen arrives a full century after her grandfather George V, pictured, visited an Ireland that was still part of the British Empire shortly after his coronation in 1911.
While there he went to the races, travelled to St Patrick's College, Maynooth in County Kildare, and opened the College of Science in Dublin.
The Queen's visit, however well received, will not banish the symbolism the British monarchy holds for some Irish people but it is expected to herald a new beginning for Ireland and its closest neighbour.
The British monarchy has had a long and chequered relationship with Ireland.
It was the Queen's forebear Henry VIII who was the first sovereign to pronounce himself king of the country in 1541.
But his declaration came more than 350 years after the English conquest of Ireland was set in motion by Henry II.
The Norman monarch invaded the country in 1171 and received homage from the King of Leinster and other rulers.
His move - partly to help the Leinster monarch regain his lands from another ruler and for Henry to assert his authority - started more than 800 years of dominance by the British.
Yet by the reign of Henry VIII the sovereign had little influence in the country and when the powerful Anglo-Irish barons, the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, challenged his authority he confiscated their lands and declared himself king.
Over the centuries Britain's domination of Ireland left the country's people embittered and it was during Queen Victoria's period on the throne the nation suffered its worst tragedy.
The great potato famine of the 1840s saw millions starve or flee the country for a life abroad.
During her lifetime Victoria visited the nation four times and was said to have been enthusiastically welcomed during her last visit to Ireland at the beginning of the last century.
Her first trip came in 1849, just after the famine, and she travelled to County Cork, the capital Dublin and Belfast.
The monarch returned in 1853 and described in her diary how some of the Irish were 'wretched looking people all in rags' and 'lively and excitable', a further visit came in 1861 and the final tour in 1900, the year before she died.
The push for self rule would finally reap its rewards for the Irish early in the 20th century but freedom from Britain would come at a price - a bloody war of independence and a painful partition in 1922.
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