Our Queen, in one of her other roles as United Kingdom head of state, pays a state visit to the Republic of Ireland, part of the UK until 1921. It is the first British state visit to Eire since 1911. At the state dinner in Dublin Castle, the contrast between the heavily bejewelled Queen and the almost unadorned – and directly elected – Eire head of state, Mary McAleese, couldn’t have been more obvious. No curtsying either. Eire was the first large part of the former British Empire to claim constitutional independence from Britain in 1937. It has not rejoined the recreated Commonwealth post WWII, of which the majority of members are republics.
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
