Royal Visitors Welcomed To Palace

There's a royal visit underway in NI today as the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall dropped into the 'Palace'.

They are in Co Down to see the soldiers and families of The 2nd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment at their base in a different Palace to the one in London - Palace Barracks, near Belfast.

Prince Charles and Camilla were first greeted at George Best Belfast City Airport by Dame Mary Peters, the Lord-Lieutenant of the County Borough of Belfast, and Hugo Swire, a Minister of State for Northern Ireland.

The Army call is the first of a number of engagements with Price Charles being Colonel in Chief of the 'The Mercians' with this being the second visit by HRH to their base in Holywood.

In separate programmes at the barracks, His Royal Highness accepted an invitation from the Commanding Officer to a briefing at Battalion Headquarters, while The Duchess of Cornwall, went on to visit some of the civilian staff who work on the base supporting the Battalion and also visited the Community Centre to meet Day Care and Pre-School groups.

Price Charles also visited soldiers attending a career development event and had the opportunity to discuss with them their programme of pre-deployment training in preparation for their fourth tour of Afghanistan later this year and then joined officers for a formal photograph and then went on to meet solders, wives and families in the nearby Sergeants' Mess.

In this first formal visit by His Royal Highness to the Battalion following its return from Afghanistan in late 2009, so HRH also presented a number of Long Service and Good Conduct medals to soldiers.

Later, the Prince of Wales visited St Malachy's Church in Alfred Street in Belfast to view the result of a £3.5m restoration project.

The Chapel opened in December 1844 when it was regarded as one of the finest examples of late Georgian-Tudor Revival churches in Ireland. Designed by Thomas Jackson of Waterford in the ecclesiastical style of the Tudor period, the church is best known for its fan-vaulted ceiling, inspired by the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey.

Outside HRH Prince Charles listened to a brief overview on the restoration work to the outside of the church from Reverend Father Martin Graham, Curate of Saint Malachy's Church who accompanied HRH throughout the engagement.

He also went on to meet representatives of Saint George's Boxing Club, the oldest amateur cross-community club in the city, which has close links to the parish.

Also this afternoon, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall - who is Patron of the National Literacy Trust - visited Dundonald Library near Belfast and read a story to around 20 children from local primary schools.

The royal visitor also met a number of foster carers and children, school principals, Libraries NI Board members and Libraries NI Staff

(BMcC/GK)