Possible Hillery visit:QUEEN ELIZABETH'S "alleged dislike of the Irish" caused anxiety among British foreign office officials examining the possibility of a state visit by president Patrick Hillery
One civil servant expressed concerns about diplomatic protocols, IRA attacks, and referred to a longer report about the monarch's supposed private attitudes, details of which have been withheld from the file released to the National Archive in London.
"I wonder," he wrote, "whether in the light of 'the queen's alleged dislike of the Irish' (para 10) [of the missing report] the [permanent under-secretary] might like to have a word informally with Sir P Moore (a Buckingham Palace aide).
"It would be a pity to go ahead with this if the queen's reactions were in the end to prove a serious barrier."
Meanwhile, the British ambassador in Dublin, Sir Robin Haydon, warned that the diplomatic difficulties involved in inviting Dr Hillery, the Irish president, to Buckingham Palace were too great.
The queen could not go on a return visit to the Irish Republic because of the IRA's campaign. She would have to signal her willingness in principle but "defer" it, he said.
"Such an assurance would be necessary to spare the Irish Government the impression that President Hillery was being summoned to the headmistress's study," Haydon noted.
Furthermore, unionists in Northern Ireland might object to the sight of the president of a state that formally claimed the province being received formally by the queen.
"You will have gathered that my reactions are on balance unfavourable to the proposal at present," he concluded. - (Guardian service)