CORK:TWINS HASSAN and Hussein Benhaffaf and their parents, Angie and Azzedine, will be among 50 or so community guests who will meet Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Cork next week.
The 17-month-old twins, who were conjoined before being separated in Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in April 2010, and their parents will get to meet the Queen and Prince Philip when they visit the Tyndall National Institute in Cork on the last day of their Irish visit.
The Queen will also meet the surgeon who led the team which carried out the successful separation of the twins, Cork-born Edward Kiely.
Mr Kiely studied medicine at University College Cork prior to his departure to work in London.
Among the other community guests invited to the institute is the winner of the Young Scientist of the Year in 2010, Richard O’Shea from Blarney, who developed a low-cost cooking stove suitable for use in developing countries.
Others invited to meet the Queen at the research centre, which was named after 19th century Irish scientist John Tyndall, include several young people.
These include a Special Olympian and a young musician, as well as others who have excelled in charity and community work.
While at the institute, the Queen will observe demonstrations of research projects being undertaken by scientists there, including the development of a painless needle and a revolutionary semiconductor.
Among the political figures whom the Queen will meet at the institute will be Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation Richard Bruton.
Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte will also attend.
It is understood that Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin will also be among those who will greet the Queen at the institute, along with Cork county manager Martin Riordan.
UCC president Dr Michael Murphy; former UCC president Prof Gerry Wrixon and Tyndall National Institute chief executive officer Dr Roger Whatmore are among the 70 guests from UCC and the institute who will also meet the Queen.
The Queen’s visit to the institute is scheduled to last just under an hour.
It is understood that the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Michael O’Connell, and his wife Catherine, together with Cork city manager Tim Lucey, will accompany the Queen and Prince Philip on a tour of the English Market in the city centre.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine Simon Coveney will also be in attendance.
It is understood the Queen will unveil a plaque marking her visit to the English Market, which will be closed to the public for the duration of the visit.
It is also understood that the Queen and Prince Philip will meet as many as 10 of the 50 or so stallholders who trade there.
The market is the oldest food market on the island and its history can be traced back to 1788.
The market, which was originally associated with the Protestant upper classes, first became known as the English Market in the 1840s to distinguish it from another market which opened on the Coal Quay and which catered more for the Catholic Irish.