Queen Elizabeth, IRA Leader Shake Hands: Martin McGuinness Meets With British Queen

A historic handshake has taken place between Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Martin McGuinness, the former Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander and current Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. Of the 32 counties on the island of Ireland, 26 succeed from the United Kingdom following the WWI, becoming known as Ireland, while 6 remained in the Union, becoming known as Northern Ireland. The 1970s and 1980s were particularly bleak decades for Northern Ireland with Irish Republicans, British Loyalists and state security forces committing atrocities which killed thousands. Historian Joe McGowan "From the Queen's point of view she lost a member of the family, Lord Mountbatten, so it's a big step for her. Martin McGuinness is conceding something, and he has to recognise that the struggle over the past 30 years was lost, in a military sense anyway." A 1998 agreement effectively ended disputes over the region's sovereignty, with the Irish Republican Army abandoning armed struggle and entering politics in exchange for a guaranteed share of political power and an agreed framework for how territorial unification on the island of Ireland may be achieved. The Queen visited Dublin for the first time last year saying in her keynote speech that the relationship between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain are now 'close as good neighbours should always be'.