Protestant and Catholics from a Northern Ireland town devastated by an IRA bombing showed their unity by joining forces to host a Diamond Jubilee visit by the Queen.
Clergy from both communities marked the Queen's 60-year reign by staging events in Enniskillen where an explosion in 1987 killed 11 people on Remembrance Day, the Press Association reported.
In an Anglican Cathedral on Tuesday a service of thanksgiving for the Diamond Jubilee was staged while a few metres across the street the Queen made history by visiting a Roman Catholic church for the first time in either Northern Ireland or the Republic.
The move was an advancement in Anglo-Irish relations which will take a huge step forward when the Queen shakes hands with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness in Belfast on Wednesday.
Crowds lined the streets as the Queen arrived in the town for the service
Speaking about the planned meeting with the Queen, Mr McGuinness, Stormont's deputy first minister, has said: "This is about stretching out the hand of peace and reconciliation to Queen Elizabeth who represents hundreds of thousands of unionists in the north."
Canon Peter O'Reilly, from St Michael's Roman Catholic Church, and the Very Rev Kenny Hall, Dean of St Macartin's Cathedral, co-operated to deliver the historic cross-community event at their neighbouring churches.
Canon O'Reilly said: "My reading of the significance of today is that it is an expression of the unity that there is in this place - a Fermanagh welcome, a gracious Queen, a lovely lady."
The Rt Rev Hall said: "We have worked together to make this a success. And what we are really sending out is a message that we really are one community."
The Queen and Prince Philip arrive at Enniskillen's St Macartin's Church
In his thanksgiving service sermon the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev Alan Harper, praised the Queen's groundbreaking visit to the Republic of Ireland last year, which has done much to build bridges on both sides of the Irish border.
Her conciliatory words and gestures had allowed many to throw off the "shackles" that had been loosening since 1998's Good Friday Agreement, and to "positively" be themselves, he said.
The Archbishop, head of the Church of Ireland, drew parallels between the Queen and her ancestor, Elizabeth I, who addressed Parliament in 1601.
He described how Elizabeth I said in her 17th century speech: "'And though you have had, and may have, many princes more mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you never had, nor shall have, any that will be more careful and loving'.
"In that, the first Queen Elizabeth was mistaken. She did not anticipate the reign of her Elizabethan successor for whose 60 years of duty, devotion and service we say 'Thanks be to God'."
The Queen endeared herself to many across Ireland during her state visit to the Republic last year when she laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin, which honours republicans who died fighting British rule, toured the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association and spoke Irish at a banquet in her honour.
The Archbishop told the congregation that the tour had great importance: "For many it was an occasion of profound significance and deep emotion. It felt like the completion of an assent, at the highest level, to a process announcing a new day for all the people of this island."
He went on to say: "Shackles, which had been steadily loosening since the ceasefires and the Belfast Agreement, finally fell away, giving us a new freedom to be positively, rather than merely negatively, ourselves."
Former Prime Minister Sir John Major, who in the 1990s began efforts to help bring about peace in Northern Ireland, praised the Queen's Diamond Jubilee trip.
He said: "The Queen's visit is not only historic, it conveys a clear message that will be heard in all corners of the world - when violence ceases and discussions succeed, the resulting peace will lead to reconciliation.
"Whenever and wherever conflict exists, we must hope that message will continue to resonate."
Before leaving Enniskillen the Queen opened the new South West Acute Hospital based in the town.
During the visit Conall Corrigan, eight, who was saved from heart failure, asked the monarch where her crown was.
The Queen's reported reply was "I do not always bring it with me."