Arguably the most significant overseas visit of the Queen’s reign came when she landed in Dublin in 2011 to become the first British monarch to visit the Republic, our nearest neighbour, since its independence, and the first to visit at all for a century. It was an unqualified success, with large crowds turning out to cheer her and even the Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams praising her speech at Dublin Castle, in which she expressed sympathy for all those who had lost loved ones during the Troubles.