Charles meets ex-IRA bomber Gerry Kelly on Belfast visit
Mr Kelly escaped from Northern Ireland’s high-security Maze Prison in 1983 while serving a jail sentence for the 1973 bombing of the Old Bailey.
The Prince of Wales has shaken hands with former IRA bomber and Sinn Fein Stormont Assembly member Gerry Kelly during a visit to Belfast.
Mr Kelly escaped from Northern Ireland’s high-security Maze Prison in 1983 while serving a jail sentence for the 1973 bombing of the Old Bailey.
He became a senior republican negotiator ahead of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and has embraced the peace process for decades, serving as a minister in the powersharing executive.
“No better place to do it than north Belfast, a very mixed area often described as a microcosm of the difficulties or characteristics of the whole of the north.
“It is a patchwork quilt of communities.”
North Belfast was the scene of multiple sectarian killings during the 30-year conflict and part of it was once dubbed “murder mile”.
Charles began a two-day trip to Northern Ireland on Tuesday with a recital by the Ulster Orchestra in a 19th century Methodist church in Belfast which is undergoing major restoration.
The prince’s uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed in an IRA bombing during a boating trip near his family holiday home in Co Sligo in the west of Ireland in 1979.
Charles toured Carlisle Memorial Church, which has served as a gateway to north Belfast since 1875.
She said: “An event like today really has gladdened everybody’s heart and lifted everybody’s spirits.”
The church was built by James Carlisle in memory of his two children who died in plagues and epidemics.
School children from across the community, Belfast Royal Academy and the nearby St Malachy’s College, met the royal visitor.
Ciaron McKenna, 16, a GCSE pupil from St Malachy’s, played the tin whistle as part of his school group.
They performed traditional Irish pieces like She Moved Through the Fair, which Van Morrison popularised.
He added: “it was a big deal, coming from a Catholic background it is unusual to meet the royals, but it was a good experience and I enjoyed it.”
Charles also sampled local craft cheese and beer before moving to his next engagement.
