A Prince’s ‘pilgrimage of the heart’

Charles visits site where IRA killed Earl Mountbatten

The Prince of Wales looked out over Mullaghmore harbour, where the body of his beloved great-uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was brought ashore in August 1979.

It was, he said, a moment he thought “would never happen.” But Wednesday, he finally made his “pilgrimage of the heart” to the spot where his “honorary grandfather” was taken from him by the IRA.

In the tiny fishing village on the west coast of County Sligo, the emotions remain raw for those who were there on that terrible day. Even after the passing of 36 years, old men stood with tears rolling down their cheeks as they shared their memories with the Prince.

Charles, who had earlier spoken of his “anguish” at losing his great-uncle, and just 24 hours earlier had shaken hands with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, had surely earned his moment of mourning.

With his hand often reaching subconsciously for his heart, the Prince said thank you to the rescuers who managed to save the lives of survivors of the IRA bomb, to those who pulled Mountbatten from the water, close to death, and to the hospital workers who gave everything they could for the injured and the dying.

It was a day of shared grief as he was joined by others who had lost loved ones, too: Timothy Knatchbull, 50, whose twin, Nicholas, was killed at the age of 14, and the parents of Paul Maxwell, the 15-year-old boat hand who also perished when Mountbatten’s vessel, the Shadow V, was blown up by a remotecontrolled IRA bomb hidden on board. The Knatchbulls’ 83-year-old grandmother, the Dowager Lady Brabourne, also died in the blast.

Charles also met Garda officer Seamus Lohan, 64, who apprehended IRA bomb-maker Thomas McMahon, now a free man after being released as part of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. “Good job,” the Prince told him.

Earlier, the Prince described how his feelings of loss had helped him to understand the “agonies” of people in Ireland. “We all have regrets,” he said, in the most direct and personal speech to date by a member of the Royal family reflecting on the Troubles.

“In August 1979, my muchloved great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was killed — at the time I could not imagine how we would come to terms with the anguish of such a deep loss since, for me, Lord Mountbatten represented the grandfather I never had. So it seemed as if the foundations of all that we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably.

“Through this dreadful experience, though, I now understand in a profound way the agonies borne by so many others in these islands, of whatever faith, denomination or political tradition.”

The Prince and the Duchess attended a service of reconciliation at St. Colomba’s Church in Drumcliffe, where relatives of those killed on both sides during the Troubles worshipped together. The Prince sat next to the former Irish president Mary McAleese.

McAleese described the Prince’s visit as a “pilgrimage of the heart,” adding: “We all know what the past was like ... that day at Mullaghmore was horrendous. I think today something much more gracious and beautiful is let loose into the Irish air.”