A father who can't forgive: As ex-IRA boss Martin McGuinness dines at historic white-tie State Banquet at Windsor Castle, a grieving father's dignified protest. President Michael D Higgins started four-day trip by meeting Prince Charles and Camilla at Irish Embassy in London. He was then taken to Windsor Castle in royal coach to meet the Queen and Prince Philip. Her Majesty hosted a state banquet attended by former IRA commander Martin McGuinness at Windsor Castle. Celebrities and politicians joined members of the Royal family for the momentous event. 'We are at a very interesting point in history, when we have, following Her Majesty's visit to Ireland, such good relations between our people,' Mr Higgins said. Controversial: Dressed in his evening finery, ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness was a guest of the Queen at Windsor Castle at a State Banquet to honour Ireland's President Michael D Higgins and mark the first visit by an Irish head of state to Britain. Among the guests was Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured in the background Dressed in his evening finery, Martin McGuinness arrived at Windsor last night for dinner with the Queen. But as his limousine swept through the castle gates, he was greeted by the grief-stricken face of the father of an Omagh bomb victim. Victor Barker spelt out exactly why he felt the former IRA chief had no place at the state banquet. His placard read: 'A terrorist in a white tie and tails is still a terrorist -- Martin McGuiness [sic] time to tell the truth.' Mr Barker, whose 12-year-old son James died in the 1998 Omagh attack, said: 'There was no place for a terrorist at the Queen's table. 'I'm here because I think that people should be reminded of McGuinness's past and not just rewrite history. 'I want him to admit his involvement in the past and accept responsibility for it. 'He needs to come clean. I was born in Windsor and I thought I've got to do something. People need to be reminded of his credentials. '[McGuinness] knows of things and of people who could give evidence and he will not do so because it breaches their code of omerta. 'I have nothing against the Irish people. My beef is with the IRA.' The Surrey solicitor played a leading role in launching the Omagh families' campaign, backed by the Daily Mail, to help raise the £2million needed to bring the killers to justice. In an historic victory in 2009 they were awarded more than £1.6million in damages against four Real IRA members. ker has repeatedly challenged McGuinness -- now Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister -- to call for witnesses to help identify those involved in placing the 500lb car bomb in the middle of Omagh. His son James was on a coach trip which stopped off in the town before the bomb exploded. No one has been convicted in the criminal courts. Mr Barker was joined in his protest by the sister of a woman killed in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Julie Hambleton expressed anger at the British establishment, saying McGuinness's presence at the banquet in honour of Irish president Michael D Higgins was the 'epitome of hypocrisy'. 'By rights he should be arrested. He's got so much blood on his hands. We are absolutely outraged,' she said. McGuinness tweeted last night that he supported Mr Higgins's view that the UK and Irish governments 'share responsibility to encourage those who need to complete the journey of making peace permanent'. Two days before the visit, he wrote: 'This is not just a Peace Process -- it's also a Change Process -- Change is hard but like Peace & Reconciliation it must be done!!'. The invitation to McGuinness was condemned when it was made public last month. Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit, who survived the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984, said: 'Were I the Queen, I think I would be looking very hard for a reason not to be inviting Mr McGuinness to my home.' The idea of McGuinness dining at Windsor would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. But in 2012 -- more than 30 years after the monarch's cousin, Lord Mountbatten, was murdered by the IRA -- the Queen agreed to meet him for the first time. A historic handshake followed in a Belfast community centre. And today Ireland's President Michael D Higgins visited the UK - the first Irish head of state to do so - in a move hailed as showing the reconciliation between the two nations. President Higgins delivered a historic speech at the Houses of Parliament - the first time Ireland's head of state has been given the honour - telling politicians the two countries now have a closeness that once seemed unachievable.

• published: 09 Apr 2014
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