Today’s historic meeting between Gerry Adams and Prince Charles only went ahead because the Queen insisted, overruling the Irish Government parties, according to a report.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that the Irish Government parties objected to the meeting at the National University of Ireland, Galway, fearing Mr Adams would be viewed as a peacemaker.

However, a late insistence from Queen confirmed the meeting. In spite of the objections of the main Irish parties, the Queen wanted to make a political gesture, akin to that of her shaking hands with Martin McGuinness at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre in 2011.

A senior London source told the Telegraph: "The resistance of the southern Irish Government was eventually broken by the enthusiastic support of the Queen and Prince Charles.

"The other party leaders will get a private five-minute meeting to provide political cover."

Mr Adams and Prince Charles met today and shook hands before the media, speaking briefly. Mr Adams said the pair both “expressed regret” for the deaths during the troubles. Tomorrow, Prince Charles will visit Co Sligo to see the spot where his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.

The government parties have rejected the claim they objected to Mr Adams meeting Prince Charles, with a Fine Gael spokesperson telling TheJournal.ie there was "no foundation to the story", while a Labour spokesperson said it was "nonsense".