The Prince of Wales has begun a whistle-stop trip to Ireland in the latest royal bid to solidify transformed relations with the Republic.
The day of engagements in Co Donegal comes a year after Charles’s emotional trip to Co Sligo and the harbour village where his great uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was murdered by the IRA in 1979.
The symbolic steps taken by the heir to the throne come after the Queen Elizabeth’s historic visit in 2011, when she became the first monarch to set foot in the country for a century.
The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Donegal town at around 11am amid tight security.
They were welcomed to Donegal Castle by Irish dancers and musicians and toured some of its restored rooms and the banqueting hall before walking through the town.
Several hundred people including local schoolchildren surrounded the Diamond in the town centre for the visit. A security cordon was placed around the town for the visit with all those hoping to greet the royal couple being screened.
They stopped at the Obelisk commemorating the Four Masters who wrote the first history of ancient Ireland in the 1600s.
The pair also spent time meeting locals, and called into a renowned local butchers, McGettigan’s, where they met owners Ernan and Diarmuid, who offered them samples of their award-winning sausages.
