President Catherine Connolly toured the Chelsea Flower Show on Tuesday as she continued her 3 days official visit across London and Leeds. She also visited the London Irish Centre in Camden to meet community members later that afternoon.
This trip is her first official visit to Great Britain since her inauguration in November. Yet it follows previous official trips to Spain and Northern Ireland earlier this year.
She met King Charles III on Monday to discuss the future of the relationship between their two neighboring nations. He said yes. During the meeting, she invited the King to visit Ireland, an offer he reportedly accepted with grace.
But the visit is overshadowed by the detention of her sister, Dr Margaret Connolly, in international waters. Israeli forces boarded her aid boat on Monday morning during a raid on a sixty-vessel Gaza-bound flotilla.
Organizers claim ten boats from the large convoy were intercepted by the military. So, Benjamin Netanyahu said the move stopped a plan to break the isolation of Hamas.
Now the President must maintain her public schedule despite the growing diplomatic crisis. She spent Monday at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith discussing the national housing shortage.
She told the crowd that many young Irish people leave the country because they simply cannot find a home. She then watched musical performances.
And she will travel north to the city of Leeds on Wednesday morning to conclude her third official trip. She plans to visit the university and meet with regional health officials at the local Irish Centre.
The King and Queen Camilla are also traveling. Or rather, they made their first visit of the year to Northern Ireland while Connolly arrived in London.
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