Queen Elizabeth II and leaders of many religious faiths in Northern Ireland united for an ecumenical Holy Thursday service that featured the monarch's traditional handout of so-called «Maundy money.At St. Patrick's Anglican Cathedral in Armagh, ecclesiastical capital of all Ireland, the queen handed out satchels of specially minted coins to 164 senior citizens: 82 women, 82 men.
This was the first time in its seven-century history that the Maundy ceremony took place outside of England or Wales.
In royal tradition, each year the number of recipients of each sex must equal the queen's age, which is 82.
Each person also received 82 pence (€1.05; US$1.63) of the exceptionally small coins - which because of their rarity are actually worth far more.
The church service and guest list included an unusually wide range of faiths - not just from the dominant Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches, but leaders of Hindu, Jewish and Muslim congregations too.
The queen's husband, Prince Philip, and Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady offered readings from the Bible.
Police mounted a heavy security operation around Armagh that included checkpoints to screen vehicles for possible bombs.
Sniffer dogs and foot patrols combed the vicinity around the cathedral, while guests and journalists were bussed to the spot from a decommissioned British army base and put through airport-style X-ray screening.
While the outlawed Irish Republican Army renounced violence in 2005, IRA dissidents continue to plot attacks in hopes of forcing Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom.
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