Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth II Publishes First Instagram Post Luke Rauscher/Flickr

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) in Belfast has removed the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip from its premises following a complaint from a senior civil servant that their display breached his human rights. The removal of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh’s portraits immediately sparked controversy, particularly because the department is part of Her Majesty’s government.

Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Northern Island Lord Duncan explained that the ban was a result of the current state of Northern Ireland, in which half wants to remain part of the United Kingdom with Queen Elizabeth as sovereign, while half wants to be one with the Republic of Ireland. Those who do not want to be under Her Majesty’s government consider Queen Elizabeth as a symbol of their ties to the United Kingdom, hence the ban.

“The Northern Ireland Office takes its responsibilities under Fair Employment legislation very seriously and seeks to ensure a good and harmonious working environment for all staff,” said Duncan.

“In line with the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland’s Guide, Promoting a Good and Harmonious Working Environment, the Northern Ireland Office is sensitive to the display of posters, pictures, portraits, or other displays that are more closely associated with one or other of the communities’ and will consider any concerns raised by employees,” he added.

Before the ban was set in place, Northern Ireland’s civil servant Lee Hegarty was secretly granted £10,000 after he filed a complaint against the NIO, stating that the display of the Queen’s portraits in the office was against his human rights. He said that it was against his rights to be forced to walk past the pictures of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip every day. After he was compensated, he secured a position at the Northern Irish Parades Commission and suggested what to replace the Queen’s portraits with.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party, Jim Allister, described the ban as a shameful move on the part of the NIO. “This craven appeasement, under the guise of a distorted approach to equality, is a calculated kick in the teeth to the majority community in Northern Ireland and a flagrant contradiction of the status of the office as a department of Her Majesty’s Government,” he said.

Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth II attends a State Banquet at the Philharmonic Hall on the first day of a tour of Slovakia on October 23, 2008, in Bratislava, Slovakia. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

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