The Queen of England left Ireland with a smile on her face and a promise to return one day soon.

The first British Monarch to step foot in the Irish Republic described her four day state visit as a joy from start to finish.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny saw the Queen off at Cork airport for her return to London when she vowed to return to Ireland.

“I would very much like to do that,” said Queen Elizabeth II, when Kenny invited her back to a land which afforded her a Cead Mile Failte – a hundred thousand welcomes - over the previous four days.

Prime Minister Kenny revealed: “At the steps of the plane I asked Her Majesty is she should like to come back and she said ‘Yes, I would very much like to do that.'

“The visit has been a resounding success and a new beginning for Anglo-Irish relations.”

Kenny added: “Ireland this week measured up to the highest global standards and for that we can be very proud.”

Britain’s Ambassador to Ireland Julian King has also hailed the success of the Queen’s trip, the first by a ruling British monarch to the South of Ireland in a hundred years.

“It has gone really, really well. We hoped it would go well but I think it has gone better than we had hoped,” said King.

“We have been touched by the warmth of the welcome everywhere.

“But we had a set of events, a set of images that have gone all around the world and indeed Her Majesty’s own words that are going to make a major contribution to the relations between Britain and Ireland.”