QUEEN Elizabeth expressed relief that Northern Ireland’s “silly marching business” was quieter than expected when the then Irish ambassador to the UK visited in 2000.
Irish government papers revealed that Ted Barrington, who met the late monarch at a Buckingham Palace garden party on July 25 that year said it was not the first time he heard her “dismissive views of the Orange marches”.
Barrington said comments “were similar to those she has made to me on previous occasions” with the ambassador’s account the only available description of what was said.
However, a senior member of the Orange Order described it as a “throw away comment,” the BBC reports, with no context available for the full conversation.
Grand secretary Mervyn Gibson said that “her late Majesty always acknowledged and thanked the institution for our proclamation of loyalty each year on July 12”.
He said: “Let it be clear, four words from a ‘private’ conversation with no explanation, quoted by a foreign ambassador and open to interpretation will not diminish the affection the Orange Institution had for her late Majesty, nor will it affect the loyalty we have for the current King.”
Barrington further said that the Queen had been “optimistic about the peace process and the future of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement”.
However, he had held back on reporting those royal views to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin amid “fear they would gain a wider currency”.
Conscious of the potential division the remarks might have caused if publicised, Barrington requested his report of them “be given limited circulation”.
