It’s not often that the warm-up act steals the show from the main attraction, especially when the latter is the president of the United States.
But that’s what happened when a 16-year-old Belfast schoolgirl introduced the first lady and Barack Obama at a pre-G8 summit event.
Hannah Nelson was praised by Michelle Obama and the president for her speech on the Northern Ireland peace process.
President Obama said Hannah was an ‘extraordinary young woman’ who we would hear more of in the future.
‘As a 16-year-old I do not want to live in the past,’ the Methodist College student told the Waterfront audience, adding that people should ‘not let the past pull us apart and stop us from moving forward’.
Mrs Obama said she and her husband always tried to speak to youngsters on their trips abroad, going as far to say that they were ‘more important’ than the presidents and prime ministers they would meet.
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