Royal Honour For UTV 50th Celebrations

The Queen has gone high-tech today with a regal switch-on taking place for a sophisticated television broadcast system.

Her Majesty and Prince Philip were at Ulster Television's studios in south Belfast this afternoon to officially mark the launch of the regional broadcaster's move into High Definition (HD) television.

Her Majesty was undertaking the first of a series of engagements in Northern Ireland and was a very special guest at UTV's Havelock House facility, just off the Ormeau Road.

The Queen and Prince Philip were also celebrating a major milestone for the independent TV company - by marking its 50th anniversary.

As part of the birthday celebrations, they met senior executives in UTV as well as staff in the high tech studios during the official 'switch over' to HD.

Her Majesty and His Royal Highness were welcomed to the studios by John B McGuckian, Chairman UTV Media plc, and went on to meet John McCann, Group Chief Executive, and Michael Wilson, Managing Director UTV Television.

She was told that UTV was the first regional broadcaster on the Island of Ireland.

It went live on 31 October 1959 and has held the Independent Television Licence ever since. Across its four divisions UTV employs around 850 people and is one of the largest publicly listed media groups in the United Kingdom.

The Queen then undertook a tour of the studios with a call to the News and Content Floor where they had an opportunity to meet Julie O'Connor, Executive Producer, and Chris Hagan, Editor of News and Sport, and many of the team who together produce the main news output for television, radio and online.

Next was a visit to the Studio One where Her Majesty and His Royal Highness saw the News and Magazine programme sets, met presenters and also viewed a short clip from 'Lesser Spotted Ulster', UTV's longest running regional programme.

Her Majesty and His Royal Highness then went on to visit the Control Room and had the opportunity to watch archive footage of some of their previous visits to Northern Ireland and to view some general UTV programme 'out-takes'.

At the reception area Her Majesty accepted an invitation from Mr McGuckian to officially launch the station's new High Definition channel.

Her Majesty then departed for Hillsborough Castle where she was due to meet the Secretary of State, Owen Paterson and the Stormont First Minister, Peter Robinson.

Her Majesty is then expected to meet charitable representatives from the local branch of a children's charity Action for Children, where Her Majesty will be guest at a reception to celebrate the Northern Ireland region's 10th anniversary.

She will then be the guest of honour at a dinner for 50 of NI's top business leaders.

It is the Royal couple's first time in Northern Ireland since a three-day visit last year, when the Royals visited Bangor, Londonderry and Banbridge.

It is widely anticipated that both the British and Irish Governments are planning the Queen's first state visit to Ireland before the end of next year.

After a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron in London, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said in June that he wanted to see the official engagement before President Mary McAleese leaves office and insisted "there was now no obstacle in the way of Queen Elizabeth coming to Ireland".

(BMcC/GK)