No wonder people across Northern Ireland want to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee

It is little surprise that the Queen visited Northern Ireland barely at all during the Troubles.

Her Majesty would have been a prime target for terrorists, and in a 25 year period from 1966 to 1991 she did not come to the Province — except once.

That journey was made in 1977. It was, psychologically, for both supporters of the monarchy and for those who thought they could defeat it violently, a crucial visit.

The reason for that trip was the Queen’s silver jubilee. It was a source of joy and pride to local crowds to see the Royal Yacht Britannia sail up Belfast Lough, when only a few years previously Northern Ireland had teetered on the brink of civil war.

When the Queen had opened a bridge across the Lagan in 1966 there was little indication of the looming Troubles. When she came in 1991, NI was already well on the road to normality.

No wonder that the monarch is being celebrated in locations across Northern Ireland this weekend.

For 70 years, she has in spirit journeyed alongside her subjects through the highs and lows of every part of her kingdom (in that aforementioned year, 1966, the Queen was present at both the England World Cup victory and attended the aftermath of the unspeakable Aberfan colliery disaster in Wales).

Right up to this weekend, now aged in her late 90s, Her Majesty the Queen has made a determined effort to appear in public — on the Buckingham Palace balcony — despite her physical frailty.

Billy Kennedy on page 20 refers to her deep faith. It is accompanied by a remarkable sense of lifelong duty.