Follow Irish Immigration and Irish News: Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins will become the first Irish president to make a state visit to the United Kingdom, marking another symbolic gesture in promoting relations between the two countries.
According to reports, Higgins is scheduled to visit the United Kingdom in April next year, and this visit will serve as another sign of a new direction in relations between the two countries following the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland three years ago.
The Irish presidential residence located in Phoenix Park, Dublin, has confirmed that Higgins has accepted an invitation for a three-day state visit. Although specific details have not been disclosed, the 72-year-old president is expected to stay at Windsor Castle in the western suburbs of London from April 8 to 10.
On May 17, 2011, Queen Elizabeth II made a four-day state visit to Ireland, becoming the first British monarch to visit the country in a century. The Queen's visit to Ireland was also seen as a symbol of the significant improvement in relations between the two "long-standing distrustful nations."