President to meet King Charles ahead of coronation ceremony
By David Young, PA
President Michael D Higgins will meet Britain's King Charles on Friday night ahead of becoming the first Irish head of state to attend a British coronation.
Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina will be guests at a reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of the coronation ceremony in London.
It will be the ninth occasion the two heads of state have met and continues a long-standing friendship between the two.
Mr and Mrs Higgins will then attend the coronation on Saturday at Westminster Abbey.
To mark the event, the president and his wife requested the Tree Council of Ireland to plant a native Irish oak tree in the woodland forest of Aurora in Co Wicklow.
The gesture was to acknowledge Charles’s commitment to environmental sustainability.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is also expected to attend the coronation.
Political leaders from the North have also been invited.
Among those who will attend is Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill in another demonstration of the markedly improved relations between the republican movement and the royal family since the peace process.
