Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Dublin this morning, the first time a reigning British monarch has ever visited Ireland since the Irish War of Independence nearly a century ago. (The last to visit was her grandfather, in 1911, when Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom.) Police located a pipe bomb on a bus routed for the capital and dismantled it. The security level for this historic visit, meant to signal final reconciliation between the two nations, is extremely high. The total cost of securing Elizabeth’s visit, as well as President Obama’s next week, will cost the economically struggling Ireland over $40 million. Which may explain why they asked an 85-year-old lady to help with the landscaping.
