Mary Lou apologises over killing of Mountbatten
SINN Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has apologised for the IRA assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
Ms McDonald described the murder of Lord Mountbatten – who died along with two members of his family and a Co. Fermanagh teenager – on a fishing boat in Co. Sligo, in 1979 as ‘heartbreaking’.
Her comments came a day after a funeral service was held for Prince Philip, Lord Mountbatten’s nephew, at Windsor Castle on Saturday. She also revealed Prince Charles sent her a personal note last year when she was suffering from Covid.
When asked on Times Radio whether she would apologise to the Prince of Wales over the assassination – which her predecessor Gerry Adams reportedly refused to do – she said: ‘The army and the armed forces associated with Prince Charles carried out many, many violent actions on our island.’ She added: ‘And I can say of course I am sorry that that happened, of course that is heart-breaking.
‘And my job, and I think Prince Charles and others would absolutely appreciate this, is to lead from the front now in these times.
‘And I believe it is all of our jobs to ensure that no other child, no other family, irrespective of who they are, face the kind of trauma and heartbreak that was all too common on all sides on this island and beyond. I’m happy to reiterate that at the time and on the weekend that your Queen buried her beloved husband.”
She relayed how Charles had written her a ‘lovely letter’ last year after she fell ill with Covid19, adding: ‘I thought that was most decent and kind of him.
‘Whereas we are not obviously monarchists, we’re republicans, that’s our political view, we have the utmost respect for that family and for who they are and what they represent to British people and indeed to unionists and loyalists here.
‘And interestingly, the conversations that you have when people like us meet people like the royal family are not conversations around recriminations or there’s never a demand for apologies.’
The bomb planted on the fishing boat by the IRA also killed Lady Doreen Brabourne, the 83-year-old mother-in-law of the earl’s daughter, his 14-yearold grandson Nicholas Knatchbull and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell, from Enniskillen.
Ms McDonald’s comments mark a shift from her predecessor Mr Adams, who had said Mountbatten ‘knew the danger’ he faced by travelling to the Republic of Ireland.
Mr Adams met Prince Charles during a visit to Ireland in May 2015. Speaking afterwards, the then-Sinn Féin president said: ‘Both he and we expressed our regret for what happened from 1968 onwards... He and his family were hurt and suffered great loss by the actions of Irish republicans. I am very conscious of this and of the sad loss of the Maxwell family... and I thank all involved, including Charles, for their forbearance.’
Asked about his previous comments that Mountbatten ‘knew the danger’, Mr Adams said: ‘I stand over what I said then. I’m not one of those people that engages in revisionism. Thankfully the war is over.’