Queen Elizabeth has begun a two-day visit to Northern Ireland.
Accompanied by Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, the queen landed at George Belfast Belfast City Airport yesterday where she was greeted by Northern Secretary Owen Paterson and Dame Mary Peters, lord lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast. She then began a series of engagements in Belfast and Hillsborough, Co Down.
Security for the visit was especially tight and, with arrangements kept secret, no one appeared on the streets to watch the motorcade as it made its way to the studios of UTV in south Belfast for the first engagement.
UTV is celebrating 50 years in broadcasting, and the station is also launching its high definition service. The queen was given a tour of the studios before being invited by UTV chairman John B McGuckian to launch the new HD channel.
"Today represents a major milestone in UTV's history and once again we are leading the way in by becoming the first broadcaster on the island of Ireland to launch HD television," Mr McGuckian said. "HD pictures will add a new dimension to our outstanding coverage of news and current affairs in Northern Ireland and reinforce our reputation for outstanding journalism and as market leader."
The queen also met Cllr Patrick Convery, lord mayor of Belfast; Cllr Christopher Stalford, sheriff for the County Borough of Belfast; and Peter McNaney chief executive, Belfast City Council
The queen and Prince Phillip also met John McCann, group chief executive, and Michael Wilson, managing director, along with Julie O'Connor, executive producer, and Chris Hagan, editor of news and sport and other colleagues working on the station's news output for television, radio and online.
Later, the queen and her husband were guests of honour at a lunch hosted by Mr McGuckian with invited guests from the business sector.
Afterward the queen left for Hillsborough Castle where, as patron of Action for Children, she appeared at a reception to celebrate the Northern Ireland region's 10th anniversary.
She also held private meetings with Mr Paterson and First Minister Peter Robinson.