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heraldsun.com.au Herald Sun, Friday, May 20, 2011 51

FOR BREAKINGNEWS heraldsun.com.au WORLD

Sympathy for historic heartache

QueensIrish regret

TheQueen

IRELANDTHE Queen extendedher deep sympathy toall those who suffered inthe turbulent, inter-twined historyof Britainand Ireland, during thekeynote speech of herhistoric state visit.

The first British mon-arch to visit the Irish Re-public since it won inde-pendence from Londonin 1922 told guests at astate banquet at DublinCastle, theformer seat of British colonial power,the countries were nowfirm friends and equalpartners.

But though Britainand Ireland now hadshared economic andcultural links and hadworkedhardto achieve apeace s e t t l eme n t i nBritish-ruled NorthernIreland, she said it wasimpossible to ignore theweight of history.

After a series of visitsto sensitive Irish sites,her remarks are likely tobe interpreted as a giant

step towards healing olddivisions, while the fact

t h e y w e r e m a d e i nDublin by a British sov-ereign will be seen asground-breaking.

It is a sad and regret-t a b l e r e a l i t y t h a tt h r o ug h h i s t ory ou rislands haveexperiencedmore than their fa i rshare of heartache, tur-bulence and loss, the85-year-old said.

These events havetouched us all, many of us personally, and are apainful legacy.

To a l l t hose whoh a v e s u f f e r e d a s a

c o ns e q uence o f ou rtroubled past, I extend

my sincere thoughtsand deep sympathy.

With the benefit of historical hindsight wecan all see things whichwe would wish had beendone differently or notat all.

As the Queen is not apolitical figure, it wasnot within her role todeliver an apology, butPrime Minister DavidCameron has alreadysaid sorry on behalf of the Government for theBloody Sunday killingsin Londonderry, North-ern Ireland, in 1972.

TheQueen earned ap-plause for starting heraddress in Irish Gaelic,saying A Uachtarainagus a chairde (Pres-ident and friends).

Irish President MaryMcAleese said the visit the first by a Britishsovereign in 100 years was a culmination of the success of the peaceprocess.

It is an acknowledg-ment that while we can-not change the past, we

have chosen to changethe future, she said. AFP

A Brazilian years oldAgeing well: Maria GomesValentim,114,is theworlds oldestwoman.

BRAZILSHEwas bornbeforeAustralianFederationand a month afterHenryFords firstcar came offtheassemblyline.

Brazilianwoman MariaGomes Valentimmissedthe firstmodern

Olympic Gamesby justthreemonthswhen shearrivedonJuly9,1896.Yesterday shewas declared byGuinessWorld Records as the worldsoldest woman, at 114 yearsand313days.

Shelives in Carangola,in MinasGerais state.