Queen set to make first state visit to Irish Republic

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: "The Queen has been pleased to accept an invitation from the President of Ireland to pay a state visit to Ireland this year.

"The Queen will be accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh," the statement added.

A date for the visit has not been released, but it is widely expected to be in May.

The Queen will be following in the footsteps of her grandfather, King George V, who travelled to the country in 1911, but that was before Ireland gained independence from Britain.

In a statement, the office of President Mary McAleese said the timing of the visit would be confirmed at a later date.

"President McAleese is pleased to announce that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has accepted an invitation to visit Ireland this year," it said.

"The dates of the visit and the programme will be announced jointly by ras an Uachtarin (the Irish president's official residence) and Buckingham Palace in due course."

There had been renewed speculation in the Irish press recently about the possibility of a three-day trip.

George V was the last British monarch to visit Ireland. The bitterness caused by the partition of the island a decade later and the use of the British Army in the Troubles in Northern Ireland strained relations between the UK and the Irish Republic for much of the 20th century.

But the success of the peace process in Northern Ireland has greatly eased tensions, and a visit by the Queen would be seen by many as cementing a closer relationship.

The Irish government said it welcomed the imminent trip.

"The visit will mark a further improvement in the very good relations between Ireland and the United Kingdom," it said in a statement.

President McAleese had previously revealed her wish for an historic royal visit.

After a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron in London last June, the outgoing Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, said he wanted to see the official engagement before President McAleese left office after a second seven-year term in November.

Mr Cowen had said a state visit by the Queen and a return trip to Britain by an Irish president would be part of the normal courtesies enjoyed by friendly, neighbouring states.