{"id":455201,"date":"2026-05-18T17:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/455201\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:14:09","slug":"king-charles-confirms-state-visit-to-ireland-as-president-meets-him-in-buckingham-palace-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/455201\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles confirms state visit to Ireland as President meets him in Buckingham Palace \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s king Charles<\/a> III is set to undertake a state visit to Ireland, with President Catherine Connolly<\/a> saying he \u201cgraciously accepted\u201d an invitation during their meeting in Buckingham Palace in London<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

Connolly, on her first official visit to Britain since being elected last November, said she had a \u201cpositive and warm\u201d meeting with the British monarch.<\/p>\n

The President said her meeting with the king lasted just under an hour. Her convoy swept through the main gate of Buckingham Palace shortly after 3.30pm, about 10 minutes after the king had arrived himself in his official vehicle.<\/p>\n

Speaking at her west London hotel shortly after the meeting, Connolly also said she was \u201cupset and worried\u201d about her sister, Margaret Connolly, who was aboard a Gaza<\/a> flotilla ship that was intercepted on Monday by Israeli forces<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ConnollyConnolly with Charles at Buckingham Palace on Monday. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt\/Pool\/Getty <\/p>\n

Speaking in Irish, she noted that it seemed the flotilla ships had been intercepted in international waters and she said she was proud of her sister, who is a GP in Sligo.<\/p>\n

Reverting to English, she said \u201cit\u2019s quite upsetting and I\u2019m also very worried about her\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very busy today … I haven\u2019t really had a chance to get details in relation to my sister and indeed, equally importantly, her colleagues on the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President was also asked about recent comments made by former taoiseach Bertie Ahern who was secretly recorded saying that he felt there were too many African immigrants coming into the State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all have to mind our own words. And we … have to take responsibility for what we say,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Lack of housing\u2019 a factor in Irish emigration to UK, says Catherine Connolly on first visit to BritainOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The President met the monarch as part of a three-day trip to England, incorporating Irish cultural centres in London and Leeds as well as a trip to the Chelsea Flower Show.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Monday, she visited the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, London<\/a>, where she met Irish language learners and gave a speech highlighting the Irish contribution to British society.<\/p>\n

Later, Irish Ambassador to Britain Martin Fraser and his wife, Deirdre Fraser, will host a reception on Monday evening in honour of Connolly and her husband, Brian McEnery, at the Irish Embassy in London.<\/p>\n

It will conclude on Wednesday with visits to Leeds University and the Leeds Irish Centre.<\/p>\n

It is the third official visit the president has undertaken since beginning her term of office, after visits to Northern Ireland and Spain. \u2013 Additional reporting: PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s king Charles III is set to undertake a state visit to Ireland, with President Catherine Connolly saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3656,3409,42,7428,99,43,40,38,41,39,303],"class_list":["post-455201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-catherine-connolly","tag-gaza-strip","tag-headlines","tag-king-charles","tag-london","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}