Queen, Ex-IRA Chief Plan Symbolic Belfast Meeting Queen Elizabeth II and a former Irish Republican Army commander are about to meet for the first time in a symbolic milestone for Northern Ireland's peace process, but journalists wanting to record the moment are being kept at bay. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II waves to the public as she arrives for a Service of Thanksgiving in Saint Macartin's Cathedral in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Northern Ireland for a two day visit to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison) Close British officials say only two photographers are being admitted to Wednesday's event featuring a handshake between the monarch and Martin McGuinness, whose Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein long has refused all contact with British royals. McGuinness is the senior Irish Catholic in Northern Ireland's 5-year-old unity government. The queen is in Belfast as part of United Kingdom-wide celebrations of her 60th year on the throne. She is scheduled to see the city's Titanic exhibition and attend an open-air party involving 20,000 locals at Stormont, the hilltop base for the power-sharing government.