Britain’s Prince William on Wednesday urged Britain and Ireland not to be “bound” by their shared “troubled past,” during the latest high-profile visit to Dublin by a senior royal.
The prince’s speech, in the middle of a three-day trip to Ireland with his wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, echoed similar words delivered by Queen Elizabeth II in her landmark state visit in 2011.
“It is right that we continue to remember those who suffered as a consequence of our troubled past,” William said in a keynote address in the Irish capital attended by Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.
Photo: Reuters
“And whilst many wrongs have been done, it is important that we are not bound by these,” William said.
The whole island of Ireland was under British rule until a war for independence between crown forces and Irish republicans ended in 1921.
A treaty split the territory between a British-run Northern Ireland and a “free state,” which went on to become the modern Irish republic.
Sectarian violence between pro-British unionists and republicans wanting union with Ireland flared in Northern Ireland in the 1960s, leaving more than 3,000 dead on all sides.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement ended the three decades of violence, which had become known as “The Troubles.”
The queen’s 2011 visit was the first by a British monarch in what is now the Republic of Ireland since her grandfather king George V a century earlier.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge followed in her footsteps on Tuesday by visiting the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin, which commemorates those who died fighting for independence.
The couple left a message on a wreath which read: “May we never forget the lessons of history as we continue to build a brighter future together.”
In his speech on Wednesday, William said that the wreath-laying ceremony was “one of the truly profound moments for Catherine and me.”
“It was a reminder of the complexity of our shared history, and as my grandmother said during her visit in 2011: ‘Our islands have experienced more than their fair share of heartache and turbulence,’” he said.
“As we look ahead to some changes in our relationship, we must never forget how far we have come together in recent decades in transforming the relationships across our two islands,” William added.
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