The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visit Northern Ireland
Published
In Northern Ireland, Their Royal Highnesses undertook a range of engagements, including hosting a musical evening at Hillsborough Castle, and officially opening a memorial garden to members of the Police Service Northern Ireland who lost their lives in the service of the people of Northern Ireland.
Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall began their four day tour of Northern Ireland and Ireland today in Bellaghy, Northern Ireland.
The day began with a visit to the Seamus Heaney HomePlace, a museum dedicated to the late Nobel Poet Laureate located in the area that inspired much of his writing. At the HomePlace Their Royal Highnesses met Brian McCormick, Heaney's nephew and manager of HomePlace, Heaney's widow Marie and the writer's brother, Hugh.
Our varied histories, voices, and traditions can create all the greater harmony when they come together. After all it is differences that make harmony possible, even as it is the barriers that have been overcome to make friendship all the stronger.
Their Royal Highnesses spent the evening at Hillsborough Castle for a special concert hosted by BBC Radio 3's Sean Rafferty. Over one hundred guests joined The Prince and The Duchess to hear the world premiere of Neil Martin's Songs After Rain, a piece commissioned by His Royal Highness which sets to music words by poets in English, Irish and Ulster Scots, as a means of celebrating different cultural traditions.
On the second day of their visit, The Prince and The Duchess opened the Police Service of Northern Ireland Memorial Garden (P.S.N.I), which is dedicated to the 13 officers who have died while serving with the Police Service in Northern Ireland since it was formed in 2001, before visiting Dromore.
Before departing Northern Ireland, The Duchess opened Dromore Central Primary School.
