Analysis: The unthinkable became inevitable

Today’s handshake between the monarch and one-time IRA warrior from the backstreets of the Bogside was many things: fascinating, breathtaking, stirring, momentous.

The one thing it was not was controversial. It was not a hotly debated issue; it did not divide opinion in Northern Ireland or Britain; in the end it was simply an idea whose time had come.

The Irish peace process has seen many taboos and habits skittled — the virtual ending of killings, the IRA disbanding itself, and its political wing Sinn Féin going into government. At some point things regarded as unthinkable somehow became inevitable, and so this meeting finally came about.

Both participants approached the occasion with infinite attention to detail, for the decades of conflict have left many sensitivities.

In going to Enniskillen the Queen was registering an important point, for it was here in 1987 that an IRA bomb killed 11 civilians at a Remembrance Day parade. By visiting the scene the point was made that, though a new relationship is being forged with Mr McGuinness, those who suffered at the hands of the organisation he once led are not forgotten.

At his insistence, the handshake was at a cultural occasion that was not part of the Jubilee tour. It took place at a Belfast theatre against the backdrop of a gathering of artists, musicians and painters. The context was designed to facilitate Mr McGuinness, who has abandoned “armed struggle” but is still an Irish republican who hopes the border will one day go.

More immediately, he was seeking an element of political cover against attacks from the tiny fragment of militant republicanism which still holds that the conflict should end not in reconciliation but in victory for gunmen.

When they killed a police officer, Mr McGuinness branded them “traitors to the island of Ireland”. They in turn call him a traitor for “shaking the paw of the Queen of England”. Their abusive language, and a small riot in Belfast last night, were unwelcome reminders of the bad old days, unrepresentative negative notes at a time when the political spectrum is united in approval of the new order.

The idea of non-violence has become firmly embedded. The fact the handshake has aroused huge interest, yet a lack of controversy, illustrates how far Belfast has travelled along the road to peace.