A DUBLIN schoolboy’s request to Queen Elizabeth II to return the six counties of the North of Ireland has been politely declined by the monarch.
Reese Kilbride, 12, is a sixth class pupil at St Helen's Senior National School in Portmarnock and had been reading up on the Easter Rising ahead of the centenary last week.
“We were learning about the Easter Rising and how much trouble they brought to Ireland and that they had the six counties - they didn't give back all of Ireland, so I thought they should give it back,” Reese told Newstalk Breakfast.
He decided to make his views clear by writing to Britain’s head of state, the Queen herself.
Reese revealed his mother, Fiona Dowling, warned him to be polite in his correspondence – by addressing her as ‘Your Majesty’ and not saying anything rude.
He requested that the Queen return the six counties and included a drawing of himself with the Queen and his friend Ethan.
While his mother told him not to expect a reply from one of the famous women in the world, a letter from Buckingham Palace addressed to Reese arrived at their house last week.
Queen Elizabeth replied to Reese through her deputy correspondence co-ordinator Jennie Vine.
Read the Queen's letter to Reese here:
“The Queen has asked me to thank you for your recent letter in which you wished to tell Her Majesty that you have been learning about the history of the Easter Rising 1916.
While it was thoughtful of you to let The Queen know of your views, I must explain that this is not a matter in which Her Majesty would intervene.
As a constitutional sovereign, The Queen acts on the advice of her Ministers and remains strictly non-political at all times.
Her Majesty has asked me to thank you for the pictures you drew especially for her, and I would like to send you and your family my good wishes at this time.”
