The Queen and I

I've spent the whole of this afternoon in Trinity College. Its a quite historic day for Ireland, with the head of state of our nearest neighbour, the Queen, visiting the country. It's the first time the UK's head of state has visited the Republic of Ireland since it gained independence. The last royal visit to Dublin was 1911. I was one of 120 guests in the Long Room in Trinity to meet her and Prince Phillip. The mix of attendees were mainly representatives of academia and the arts. We were divided into 12 groups of ten. I was in a group of social sciences and philantrophists. They worked different sides of the room, passing each other at the far end, where they took a look at the royal charter of the college, to head back to complete a loop. Both swapped a few words with just about everybody. I'm not really sure why I was picked to attend, but it was an interesting experience to see how these events work, the protocols and security. The whole thing was broadcast live on the national television station, which is where I've grabbed this image (I'm the guy, second from the right).