THERE WAS, as President McAleese said, "a touch of the surreal about it". A short time beforehand, she and Queen Elizabeth had met and shook hands in the Black and White Hall of the Lanyon building at Queen's University Belfast.
It was the first time that the two heads of state of these islands had met publicly on the island of Ireland. Earlier, the President and the queen had met in the university vice-chancellor's lodge for a private discussion.
Speaking to reporters later, the President said they had talked about "how miraculous these times are in Northern Ireland."
On arrival at Queen's University, the President was greeted by the Northern Ireland First Minister Dr Ian Paisley and the university's vice-chancellor Prof Peter Gregson. "Nice to see you again, are you keeping well?" the President said to Dr Paisley, extending a hand. Taking it, he responded: "I'm keeping well."
When she arrived at the university later, the queen was greeted by Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Employment and Learning in the Northern Ireland Executive and Prof Gregson.
It was while she was speaking to reporters that the President made her "surreal" observation. In particular, she had been asked about being greeted by the First Minister.
Some hours later, as he left the university for a meeting, Dr Paisley remarked to Prof Gregson: "There was some crowd in there today . . . liquorice all-sorts!"
He was leaving the university's Great Hall where he had sat with the President and the queen at the top table for a centenary lunch, under an enormous portrait of the killing of St Peter the Martyr. Beside it was a portrait of a young Queen Victoria.
Among the many other portraits in the hall is one of the President and another of poet Séamus Heaney, both graduates of the university.
Among the approximately 100 guests were Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward, and graduates of the university such as Séamus Heaney, poet Michael Longley, former Unionist Party leader David Trimble, former Catholic Church primate Cardinal Cahal Daly, former Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Robin Eames, Dr Alasdair McDonnell MLA, and former Irish Times journalist Conor O'Clery.
Earlier in the Black and White Hall, before a marble statue of a pensive Gallileo, the queen and Prince Philip greeted dignitaries, beginning with the President and her husband Martin.
The queen unveiled a centenary stone to mark the occasion, with lines from a specially commissioned stanza by Séamus Heaney engraved on its plinth. Heaney read the stanza to the gathering at the end of the brief ceremony:
"Still red brickwork/Remains our bulwark:/Here exercise/Of mind has stood/To us, for us/These 100 years/And will, for good."
Dr Paisley said to The Irish Timesas he left: "It was a good day for Queens and to see Her Majesty unveil the permanent stone with words by an Irish poet."
Yesterday morning, at the East Belfast Mission, which is run by the Methodist minister Rev Gary Mason, the queen and the prince, accompanied by Mr Woodward, were met by Dr Paisley, Peter Robinson, and his wife Iris, and the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Jim Rodgers.
There to greet the queen too were four generations of one family - Elizabeth Fisher (89), her daughter Yvonne, her grand-daughter Wendy, and her great grand-daughter Amy (8) who waved a Union Jack. "We must be the most loyal part of the UK," said Yvonne, "we now play the national anthem even when the pubs close."
The queen concludes her visit to Northern Ireland today when she visits the Royal School in Armagh and attends a Maundy Thursday service at St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, in which the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady will take part.
Republican Sinn Féin has said it is planning protests for the Armagh events.