Charles Trip to Londonberry Cancelled "The Times" June 13, 2000
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Prince's link to Paras halts Londonderry trip
BY CHRISTOPHER WALKER IN ENNISKILLEN
THE Government has cancelled a visit by the Prince of Wales to
Londonderry amid fears that his links with The Parachute Regiment would
offend nationalists.
The Prince is Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment, whose actions on Bloody
Sunday in 1972 are being scrutinised at the Saville inquiry, which is
sitting in the city's Guild Hall.
Unionists reacted with fury to yesterday's last-minute decision to
block the royal engagement at Ulster University's Magee campus. Jeffrey
Donaldson, the Ulster Unionist MP, said that it would be seen by the
Unionist community of Ulster's second city as a snub.
He said: "When you consider a convicted IRA man has been elected as the
Mayor of Londonderry without any regard to the sensitivities of the
Unionist community in that city, then if the reports are true that
Prince Charles was due to visit Londonderry and it has been cancelled
because of nationalist sensibilities - it shows how absurd this whole
situation has become."
Earlier Sinn Fein confirmed its boycott of today's garden party for
2,000 people in honour of victims of the Troubles, which will be
attended by the Prince. A Sinn Fein spokesman said: "Prince Charles is
Colonel-in-Chief of The Parachute Regiment responsible for the Bloody
Sunday massacre and other atrocities against the Irish people.
"Republicans will not be attending, but perhaps it would be appropriate
for the British Prince to use the occasion to apologise for the actions
of the paratroopers."
John Taylor, deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said he was
pleased that the two Sinn Fein executive ministers and the party
president, Gerry Adams, will be staying away from today's function at
Hillsborough Castle. "They are not the kind of people one would like to
meet at a garden party," he said. "I am sure it will be a much more
pleasant affair in their absence."
The Prince was accompanied to Northern Ireland by his temporary press
secretary, Amanda Neville. She was standing in for Sandy Henney, who
resigned on Friday after a row between St James's Palace and The Daily
Telegraph over the copyright to photographs of Prince William.
His two-day visit was his first official engagement without Ms Henney,
whose last job before she resigned was to visit Enniskillen
Agricultural College in Co Fermanagh in preparation for the Prince's
visit and to arrange photo- opportunities.
The Prince met farmers at the college and spoke of what a "total
tragedy" it would be if the younger generation felt that there was no
future for it on the land. He warmly endorsed traditional farming
methods during a two-hour visit to college, close to the Irish border,
amid high security. Police snipers hid behind hedgerows and manned
rooftops at the college in an area known to be a stronghold of the
Continuity IRA.
"It is a very difficult time for farmers and the rural community," the
Prince told an audience of about 200 people. "I care very much about
their plight and have been trying over the past few years to do what
practically I can to help."
He praised organic producers in the Province, where organic production
is fast growing but said by officials to be ten to 15 years behind the
mainland's. The number of producers has jumped from 18 to 80 in the
past 18 months and the land being farmed organically from 17,500 acres
to 150,000.
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