Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas speech expected to give tourism boost to Ireland

Monarch surprised by the depth of her own response to visit

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The Queen enjoying her visit to the National Stud, Kildare, earlier this year

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The Queen is expected to reflect at length on her debut trip to the Republic of Ireland during her Christmas speech, scheduled to be broadcast on December 25.

Already tourism organizations in the Republic are acknowledging the potential boost her favorable impressions of the visit will make on the international market.

The annual address, the Queen's 59th as monarch, will reportedly be dominated by her reflections of her first State visit to Ireland in May and is expected to include footage of a number of scenic landmarks she visited on her historic four-day trip.

This year, produced by the Rupert Murdoch owned Sky News for the first time, the broadcast could potentially eclipse the record 27 million viewers who tuned into the 1987 speech, thanks to a renewed interest in the monarchy after the two royal weddings held this year.

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According to the Belfast Telegraph the Queen will reportedly reflect on the warm reception she received in the Republic, which included visits to Dublin, Kildare, Tipperary, and Cork.

'It's been the best year in living memory for the Royal family, with two royal weddings, Prince Philip's 90th birthday and, not least, the historic visit to Ireland," a source told the Telegraph. 'It's no secret that the visit to Ireland meant a huge deal to her and she wants to use the speech to reflect on it publicly.

"She has so many fond memories of the year and has a wealth of stuff to choose from, but all I can say at this stage is that Ireland will feature centrally in the speech."

The Queen's own private response to the visit has been well recorded. In a letter to the Lord Mayor of Cork she recalled how she broke with royal protocol to shake hands with the Irish public who had given her an unexpectedly warm welcome, an event she described as 'deeply moving.'

In fact she has even been quoted as saying her visit — the first by a reigning British monarch in 100 years — was the highlight of her reign.
 

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