VOA News 27 June 2012
Britain's Queen Elizabeth has engaged in an historic handshake with a former leader of the separatist group that waged a bloody decades-long fight for Northern Ireland's independence from British rule.
The handshake between the monarch and Martin McGuinness, a former leader of the Irish Republican Army-turned deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, took place Wednesday at the start of a private social event in a Belfast theater. The two were expected to exchange a public handshake after the event.
Sinn Fein, the IRA's political arm, continues to oppose British rule in Northern Ireland.
Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, arrived in Northern Ireland Tuesday for the start of a two-day visit marking her 60th year on the British throne. She visited the small town Enniskillen, where she met with relatives of people killed in an IRA bomb attack 25 years ago, and attended services at the town's Catholic church, the first time she has done so in her 20 visits to Northern Ireland.