{"id":455284,"date":"2026-05-18T18:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/455284\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:24:11","slug":"king-charles-hosts-president-catherine-connolly-at-buckingham-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/455284\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles hosts President Catherine Connolly at Buckingham Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain’s King Charles has held an audience with the President of Ireland at Buckingham Palace.<\/p>\n

Charles met Catherine Connolly on the first day of her three-day official visit to England, which will see her hold engagements in London and Leeds.<\/p>\n

The pair were pictured shaking hands and smiling for the cameras at the palace.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Ms Connolly said there is \u201chardly a sector\u201d of British life that has not been influenced by the Irish.<\/p>\n

The trip is her first official visit to England since her inauguration in November, when she spoke about her commitment to engaging with the Irish diaspora.<\/p>\n

The visit began on Monday with a trip to the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, west London, where she delivered an address and met those participating in an Irish language class.<\/p>\n

\"IrishCatherine Connolly met King Charles at Buckingham Palace (Jordan Pettitt\/PA)<\/p>\n

In her speech at the Irish Cultural Centre, Ms Connolly said: \u201cThe Irish contribution to British society is as diverse as can be imagined.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the arts and culture, to healthcare, education, construction and infrastructure, as well as professional, scientific and technical services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, there is hardly a sector of the economy or an area of life that has not been touched by the Irish here in Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cHistorically, modern-day immigration was driven by economic factors, with large numbers leaving Ireland for London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis occurred in waves, and we know that from the 19th century and the 20th century, and unfortunately, as well, we have people leaving our shores for various reasons, but some of them for lack of housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IrishPresident Catherine Connolly with Irish dancers who performed during her visit to the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith (Jordan Pettitt\/PA)<\/p>\n

Aengus Collins O\u2019Malley, 49, said it was great to see the president \u201creaching out to the Irish diaspora\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cShe is our head of state and she is an individual who is known for promoting the Irish language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about Anglo-Irish relations, Mr Collins O\u2019Malley, who gives history lessons on Michael Collins at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, said: \u201cThey are always great when the Tories are not in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oisin Moroney, 21, who performed an Irish dance for Ms Connolly on Monday, said: \u201cIt was great for her to come here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was grateful to be able to welcome her into the country.<\/p>\n

\"MusiciansMusicians perform during a visit by Irish President Catherine Connolly to the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith (Jordan Pettitt\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always get that bit of nerves, but as soon as I started dancing, they just went away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Moroney, from Hammersmith, west London, who was born to Irish parents, said: \u201cWe were growing up as Irish as you could be without growing up in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larry O\u2019Leary, 74, chairman of the Mayor of London\u2019s St Patrick\u2019s Festival Community Advisory Board, said: \u201cI love the way she promotes the Irish language at every opportunity. She is not afraid to speak her mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows you how much the president and her office care about maintaining Irish culture,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Leary also served as chairman of the Council of Irish County Associations (CICA).<\/p>\n

\"IrishYoung Irish dancers perform during the Irish president\u2019s visit (Jordan Pettitt\/PA)<\/p>\n

The Irish ambassador to Britain, Martin Fraser, and Deirdre Fraser will host a reception on Monday evening in honour of Ms Connolly and her husband, Brian McEnery, at the Irish embassy in London.<\/p>\n

The visit will continue on Tuesday when the president visits the Chelsea Flower Show and the London Irish Centre in Camden.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

In Leeds, Ms 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.<\/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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain’s King Charles has held an audience with the President of Ireland at Buckingham Palace. Charles met Catherine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-455284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455284","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=455284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}