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Britain's King Charles accepts invitation to Ireland for State visit next year

Britain's King Charles III reacts as he greets Ireland's President Catherine Connolly, during an audience at Buckingham Palace in London
President Catherine Connolly meets King Charles at Buckingham Palace

President Catherine Connolly has invited King Charles to Ireland next year for a State visit, which the President said he has "graciously accepted".

It will be the second State visit by a British monarch to Ireland since independence. Charles' mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, paid a State visit to Ireland in 2011.

This was followed by a State visit to the UK by president Michael D Higgins in 2014, in what was the first such visit by an Irish president.

President Connolly met King Charles at Buckingham Palace today as part of her three-day visit to the UK.

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Speaking after the meeting, President Connolly said the meeting was "wonderful", saying the two had a lot in common in relation to the environment.

Ms Connolly also said in a statement: "King Charles knows Ireland well and has been a positive voice for peace and reconciliation."

She said she was sure that Charles "will receive the warmest of welcomes [to Ireland] and this will represent a further deepening of our relationship as neighbours and as friends".

Details of the visit will be worked out in consultation with the two governments.

Irish president Catherine Connolly during an audience with King Charles
Catherine Connolly met King Charles at Buckingham Palace today

Contribution of Irish immigrants praised during visit

Earlier, President Connolly said some Irish people are leaving Ireland because of a lack of housing, and spoke about the waves of people who left Ireland for Britain in the 1950s and 1980s.

She said during those periods, unemployment and economic stagnation pushed many to leave for better opportunities abroad.

Speaking at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, she paid tribute to the contribution Irish immigrants have made to British society.

The President said there was "hardly a sector" of the economy or an area of life in Britain that has not been touched by the Irish.

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President Connolly said: "The Irish contribution to British society is as diverse as can be imagined.

"From the arts and culture, to healthcare, education, construction and infrastructure, as well as professional, scientific and technical services.

"Indeed, there is hardly a sector of the economy or an area of life that has not been touched by the Irish here in Britain."

President Connolly also highlighted the centre's work in promoting the Irish language and its music.

"Language gives us a powerful sense of home. As President, it fills me with pride to see the interest that so many show in our beautiful language," she said.

The Irish ambassador to Britain Martin Fraser and his wife Deirdre are hosting a reception this evening in honour of President Connolly and her husband, Brian McEnery, at the Irish embassy in London.

President Connolly has spoken about the "complexity" of the relationship between Ireland and Britain.

During a speech at the Irish Embassy reception, President Connolly said the two countries were inextricably linked on so many levels.

She said for centuries it was one of "coloniser and colonised".

She said the decolonisation of Ireland was not only about land and law, it was also about the "decolonisation of our minds".

President Connolly also spoke about the contribution of the diaspora, and in particular, the role of women.

She said, with the exception of two short periods, women have always outnumbered men in Ireland's emigration statistics to Britain, many becoming the backbone of nursing in the NHS.

She said they were often obliged to leave an Ireland that defined morality in self-serving, patriarchal terms that provided little space for dissent or independent thought.

Ms Connolly's UK visit will continue tomorrow when the president visits the Chelsea Flower Show and the London Irish Centre in Camden.

It will conclude on Wednesday with visits to Leeds University and the Leeds Irish Centre.

In Leeds, President Connolly will be briefed on the work of the Irish Health Centre there and will also meet representatives of other Irish centres in the region.

It is the third official visit the president has undertaken since commencing her term of office, following visits to Northern Ireland and Spain.