Final Day of Irish Visit for Charles and Camilla

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall spent the final day of their visit to Northern Ireland cutting cakes with swords and praising peace efforts.

Charles and Camilla were on hand to officially reopen Mount Stewart House, an 18th century estate that was owned by the Marquesses of Londonderry until it was taken over by the National Trust in the late 1970s, after its recent three-year, ₤8million refurbishment. During a morning tea, the pair were tasked with cutting a cake to mark the celebration, with a sword borrowed from the Lord Lieutenant of County Down. “It’s ruined!” Camilla jokingly exclaimed after slicing through the cake with the blade.

The visiting royals were then given an hour-long tour of the house and its famed gardens, shown around by Lady Rose Loritzen, granddaughter of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry. She said that the Prince and the Duchess were both “really impressed” with the house, particularly Prince Charles who had seen it before its refurbishment.

Later, it was off to the Corrymeela Centre in Ballycastle to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The Centre is Northern Ireland’s oldest centre for peace and reconciliation. The Prince delivered a speech at the reception, saying that “we have all suffered too much, too many people’s loved ones have been killed or maimed. Surely it is time, as I said in Sligo, that we become the subjects of our history and not is prisoners.”

Charles also praised the efforts of the Centre in the reconciliation process: “Healing is possible even when the heartache continues – and the fruits of Corrymeela over the past 50 years bear testament to this.”

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Northern Ireland, Official Visit, The Duchess of Cornwall, The Prince of Wales.