Prince Charles And Gerry Adams: Another Step On Long Walk To Peace

In a move that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago, Prince Charles has met and shaken hands with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. Prince Charles is making a four-day visit to Ireland and met with Mr. Adams and a group of politicians at a reception at National University of Ireland in Galway. According to the BBC, the meeting between Prince Charles and Mr. Adams is the first meeting between a member of the royal family and the Sinn Féin leadership in the Irish republic.

The Prince’s mother Queen Elizabeth did meet and shake hands with Sinn Féin’s deputy leader Martin McGuinness in Belfast in 2012, but of course, that meeting was in Northern Ireland, which remains part of the United Kingdom. The meeting between the Queen and Mr. McGuinness was hailed at the time as being of great historical and political significance.

Today’s meeting between Prince Charles and Mr. Adams is no less significant, and the Telegraph reports that the meeting will be seen as the latest step along a path of healing and reconciliation between republicans and the British state. It was just four years ago in 2011 when the Sinn Fein leadership decided not to allow Mr. McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) commander, to attend the state banquet in Dublin Castle during the Queen’s visit to the Republic. Mr. McGuinness has also met the Prince today.

Prince Charles’ visit to Ireland will include a visit to the village of Mullaghmore where the IRA murdered Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1979. The visit will be a poignant one for Charles as he was known to be especially close to Lord Mountbatten. The Prince’s 14-year-old godson and two others were killed when the IRA blew up a boat that Mountbatten was using during a vacation in the area.

The meeting between Charles and senior members of the republican movement is seen as especially significant as Charles is often seen as a figure of hate amongst republicans. The Prince is the figurative head of the British Army’s Parachute Regiment, which played a leading role in the “Bloody Sunday” incident during which 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by the army.

Mr. Adams said that meeting Prince Charles was an opportunity to promote peace and reconciliation.

“Whilst the Parachute Regiment has killed many Irish citizens, Charles has also been bereaved by the actions of republicans. Thankfully the conflict is over, but there remains unresolved injustices. These must be rectified and a healing process developed.”

While Prince Charles’ associations with the Parachute Regiment make him a controversial figure in Ireland, Mr. Adams is no less controversial. To some, he is hailed as a peacemaker, to others he is an apologist for the IRA who murdered over 1,700 people during its campaign of terror. Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA, but has said he will never disassociate himself from the organisation.

[Photo by Adam Gerrard – WPA Pool/Getty Images]